Reading City of Bones
by Wolfgirlbff
Summary: What happens when Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle and Alec come together to read City of Bones.
1. Pandemonium

**Reading City of Bones**

**Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle and Alec all read City of Bones**

**Set just after City of Ashes, before City of Glass**

**Isabelle POV**

"Jace. Alec. Both of you come with me!" Isabelle called to the two boys in the weapons room. She had called Clary and Simon and told them to all meet in the sanctuary because Simon couldn't come into the Institute. As I quickly made my way down the halls I could hear Jace and Alec complaining behind me.

"Why are we going here?" Jace asked when we reached the sanctuary. He seemed to be in an even worse mood than normal.

Before I responded there was a knock on the door. I walked forward and opened the door to see Clary and Simon standing in the door way.

"So why are we here?" Clary asked after I had made everyone sit down in the few seats that were in the sanctuary. Everyone looked at me as I held the box I had been holding forward. I opened the box to show them the books that were inside and the letter that was on top.

"I found this in front of the door this morning. The note says that we all need to read the books together. The first two are from the past and the rest are in the future," I explained.

"Can we just skip to the third one?" Simon asked.

"It said that if we don't read them in order then we can't read the books," I said.

"Well then let's start. I'll read first," Alec said as he reached for the first book.

**Everyone POV**

**1**

**Pandemonium**

"Of course it'd start here," Clary sighed.

**"You've got to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest. He stared down at the boy in the red zip-up jacket and shook his shaved head. "You can't bring that thing in here." **

**The fifty or so teenagers in line outside the Pandemonium Club leaned forward to eavesdrop. It was a long wait to get into the all-ages club, especially on a Sunday, and not much generally happened in line. The bouncers were fierce and would come down instantly on anyone who looked like they were going to start trouble. Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray, standing in line with her best friend, Simon, leaned forward along with everyone else, hoping for some excitement. **

"Why is it in my perspective?" Clary asked even though no one knew the answer.

**"Aw, come on." The kid hoisted the thing up over his head. It looked like a wooden beam, pointed at one end. "It's part of my costume." **

**The bouncer raised an eyebrow. "Which is what?" **

**The boy grinned. He was normal-enough-looking, Clary thought, for Pandemonium. He had electric blue dyed hair that stuck up around his head like the tendrils of a startled octopus, but no elaborate facial tattoos or big metal bars through his ears or lips. "I'm a vampire hunter." He pushed down on the wooden thing. It bent as easily as a blade of grass bending sideways. "It's fake. Foam rubber. See?" **

**The boy's wide eyes were way too bright a green, Clary noticed: the color of antifreeze, spring grass. Colored contact lenses, probably. The bouncer shrugged, abruptly bored. "Whatever. Go on in." **

"You didn't think anything about his eyes?" Isabelle asked.

"People do wear weird contacts," Clary defended herself.

**The boy slid past him, quick as an eel. Clary liked the lilt to his shoulders, the way he tossed his hair as he went. There was a word for him that her mother would have used—insouciant. **

**"You thought he was cute," said Simon, sounding resigned. "Didn't you?" **

"Jealous?" Jace asked Simon with a laugh.

"And you're not?" he shot back making everyone else uncomfortable.

**Clary dug her elbow into his ribs, but didn't answer. **

**Inside, the club was full of dry-ice smoke. Colored lights played over the dance floor, turning it into a multicolored fairyland of blues and acid greens, hot pinks and golds. **

**The boy in the red jacket stroked the long razor-sharp blade in his hands, an idle smile playing over his lips. It had been so easy—a little bit of a glamour on the blade, to make it look harmless. Another glamour on his eyes, and the moment the bouncer had looked straight at him, he was in. Of course, he could probably have gotten by without all that trouble, but it was part of the fun—fooling the mundies, doing it all out in the open right in front of them, getting off on the blank looks on their sheeplike faces. **

**Not that the humans didn't have their uses. The boy's green eyes scanned the dance floor, where slender limbs clad in scraps of silk and black leather appeared and disappeared inside the revolving columns of smoke as the mundies danced. Girls tossed their long hair, boys swung their leather-clad hips, and bare skin glittered with sweat. Vitality just poured off them, waves of energy that filled him with a drunken dizziness. His lip curled. They didn't know how lucky they were. They didn't know what it was like to eke out life in a dead world, where the sun hung limp in the sky like a burned cinder. Their lives burned as brightly as candle flames—and were as easy to snuff out. **

**His hand tightened on the blade he carried, and he had begun to step out onto the dance floor when a girl broke away from the mass of dancers and began walking toward him. He stared at her. She was beautiful, for a human—long hair nearly the precise color of black ink, charcoaled eyes. Floor-length white gown, the kind women used to wear when this world was younger. Lace sleeves belled out around her slim arms. Around her neck was a thick silver chain, on which hung a dark red pendant the size of a baby's fist. **

**He only had to narrow his eyes to know that it was real—real and precious. His mouth started to water as she neared him. Vital energy pulsed from her like blood from an open wound. She smiled, passing him, beckoning with her eyes. He turned to follow her, tasting the phantom sizzle of her death on his lips.**

**It was always easy. He could already feel the power of her evaporating life coursing through his veins like fire. Humans were so stupid. They had something so precious, and they barely safeguarded it at all. They threw away their lives for money, for packets of powder, for a stranger's charming smile. The girl was a pale ghost retreating through the colored smoke. She reached the wall and turned, bunching her skirt up in her hands, lifting it as she grinned at him. Under the skirt, she was wearing thigh-high boots. He sauntered up to her, his skin prickling with her nearness. Up close she wasn't so perfect: He could see the mascara smudged under her eyes, the sweat sticking her hair to her neck. He could smell her mortality, the sweet rot of corruption. Got you, he thought.**

"Not this time," Isabelle said smugly.

**A cool smile curled her lips. She moved to the side, and he could see that she was leaning against a closed door, NO ADMITTANCE—STORAGE was scrawled across it in red paint. She reached behind her for the knob, turned it, slid inside. He caught a glimpse of stacked boxes, tangled wiring. A storage room. He glanced behind him—no one was looking. So much the better if she wanted privacy. He slipped into the room after her, unaware that he was being followed. **

**"So," Simon said, "pretty good music, eh?" **

**Clary didn't reply. They were dancing, or what passed for it— a lot of swaying back and forth with occasional lunges toward the floor as if one of them had dropped a contact lens—in a space between a group of teenage boys in metallic corsets, and a young Asian couple who were making out passionately, their colored hair extensions tangled together like vines. A boy with a lip piercing and a teddy bear backpack was handing out free tablets of herbal ecstasy, his parachute pants flapping in the breeze from the wind machine. Clary wasn't paying much attention to their immediate surroundings—her eyes were on the blue-haired boy who'd talked his way into the club. **

**He was prowling through the crowd as if he were looking for something. There was something about the way he moved that reminded her of something… **

**"I, for one," Simon went on, "am enjoying myself immensely." **

**This seemed unlikely. Simon, as always, stuck out at the club like a sore thumb, in jeans and an old T-shirt that said MADE IN BROOKLYN across the front. His freshly scrubbed hair was dark brown instead of green or pink, and his glasses perched crookedly on the end of his nose. He looked less as if he were contemplating the powers of darkness and more as if he were on his way to chess club. **

Clary glanced apologetically at Simon while he just shrugged.

**"Mmm-hmm." Clary knew perfectly well that he came to Pandemonium with her only because she liked it, that he thought it was boring. She wasn't even sure why it was that she liked it— the clothes, the music made it like a dream, someone else's life, not her boring real life at all. But she was always too shy to talk to anyone but Simon.**

**The blue-haired boy was making his way off the dance floor. He looked a little lost, as if he hadn't found whom he was looking for. Clary wondered what would happen if she went up and introduced herself, offered to show him around. Maybe he'd just stare at her. Or maybe he was shy too. Maybe he'd be grateful and pleased, and try not to show it, the way boys did— but she'd know. Maybe— **

**The blue-haired boy straightened up suddenly, snapping to attention, like a hunting dog on point. Clary followed the line of his gaze, and saw the girl in the white dress. **

**Oh, well, Clary thought, trying not to feel like a deflated party balloon. I guess that's that. The girl was gorgeous, the kind of girl Clary would have liked to draw—tall and ribbon-slim, with a long spill of black hair.**

Isabelle smiled at her Clary for her description in the book.

**Even at this distance Clary could see the red pendant around her throat. It pulsed under the lights of the dance floor like a separate, disembodied heart. **

**"I feel," Simon went on, "that this evening DJ Bat is doing a singularly exceptional job. Don't you agree?" **

**Clary rolled her eyes and didn't answer; Simon hated trance music. Her attention was on the girl in the white dress. Through the darkness, smoke, and artificial fog, her pale dress shone out like a beacon. No wonder the blue-haired boy was following her as if he were under a spell, too distracted to notice anything else around him—even the two dark shapes hard on his heels, weaving after him through the crowd. **

**Clary slowed her dancing and stared. She could just make out that the shapes were boys, tall and wearing black clothes. She couldn't have said how she knew that they were following the other boy, but she did. She could see it in the way they paced him, their careful watchfulness, the slinking grace of their movements. A small flower of apprehension began to open inside her chest. **

**"Meanwhile," Simon added, "I wanted to tell you that lately I've been cross-dressing. Also, I'm sleeping with your mom. I thought you should know."**

"You're sleeping with her mom?" Alec said as he and Jace burst out with laughter.

"It's your mom too," Simon said causing the awkward silence to come again.

**The girl had reached the wall, and was opening a door marked NO ADMITTANCE. She beckoned the blue-haired boy after her, and they slipped through the door. It wasn't anything Clary hadn't seen before, a couple sneaking off to the dark corners of the club to make out—but that made it even weirder that they were being followed. **

**She raised herself up on tiptoe, trying to see over the crowd. The two guys had stopped at the door and seemed to be conferring with each other. One of them was blond, the other dark-haired. The blond one reached into his jacket and drew out something long and sharp that flashed under the strobing lights. A knife. **

"Why'd you take out a knife in the open like that?" Simon asked.

"No one could see us," Jace defended himself.

**"Simon!" Clary shouted, and seized his arm. **

**"What?" Simon looked alarmed. "I'm not really sleeping with your mom, you know. I was just trying to get your attention. Not that your mom isn't a very attractive woman, for her age." **

**"Do you see those guys?" She pointed wildly, almost hitting a curvy black girl who was dancing nearby. The girl shot her an evil look. "Sorry—sorry!" Clary turned back to Simon. "Do you see those two guys over there? By that door?" **

**Simon squinted, then shrugged. "I don't see anything." **

**"There are two of them. They were following the guy with the blue hair—" **

**"The one you thought was cute?" **

**"Yes, but that's not the point. The blond one pulled a knife." **

**"Are you sure?" Simon stared harder, shaking his head. "I still don't see anyone." **

**"I'm sure." **

**Suddenly all business, Simon squared his shoulders. "I'll get one of the security guards. You stay here." He strode away, pushing through the crowd. **

**Clary turned just in time to see the blond boy slip through the NO ADMITTANCE door, his friend right on his heels. She looked around; Simon was still trying to shove his way across the dance floor, but he wasn't making much progress. Even if she yelled now, no one would hear her, and by the time Simon got back, something terrible might already have happened. Biting hard on her lower lip, Clary started to wriggle through the crowd. **

"What would you do if I'd turned the knife on you?" Jace asked Clary. Clary shrugged not knowing what she would have done. Simon frowned at the thought that Jace admittedly had a good point.

**"What's your name?" **

**She turned and smiled. What faint light there was in the storage room spilled down through high barred windows smeared with dirt. Piles of electrical cables, along with broken bits of mirrored disco balls and discarded paint cans littered the floor. **

**"Isabelle." **

**"That's a nice name." He walked toward her, stepping carefully among the wires in case any of them were live. In the faint light she looked half-transparent, bleached of color, wrapped in white like an angel. It would be a pleasure to make her fall…"I haven't seen you here before." **

**"You're asking me if I come here often?" She giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. There was some sort of bracelet around her wrist, just under the cuff of her dress—then, as he neared her, he saw that it wasn't a bracelet at all but a pattern inked into her skin, a matrix of swirling lines. **

**He froze. "You—" **

"He knows he's trapped," Isabelle said triumphantly while Alec and Jace laughed.

**He didn't finish. She moved with lightning swiftness, striking out at him with her open hand, a blow to his chest that would have sent him down gasping if he'd been a human being. He staggered back, and now there was something in her hand, a coiling whip that glinted gold as she brought it down, curling around his ankles, jerking him off his feet. He hit the ground, writhing, the hated metal biting deep into his skin. She laughed, standing over him, and dizzily he thought that he should have known. No human girl would wear a dress like the one Isabelle wore. She'd worn it to cover her skin—all of her skin. **

**Isabelle yanked hard on the whip, securing it. Her smile glittered like poisonous water. "He's all yours, boys." **

"Finally we arrive!" Jace exclaimed while Alec laughed.

**A low laugh sounded behind him, and now there were hands on him, hauling him upright, throwing him against one of the concrete pillars. He could feel the damp stone under his back. His hands were pulled behind him, his wrists bound with wire. As he struggled, someone walked around the side of the pillar into his view: a boy, as young as Isabelle and just as pretty.**

**His tawny eyes glittered like chips of amber. "So," the boy said. "Are there any more with you?" **

**The blue-haired boy could feel blood welling up under the too-tight metal, making his wrists slippery. "Any other what?" **

**"Come on now." The tawny-eyed boy held up his hands, and his dark sleeves slipped down, showing the runes inked all over his wrists, the backs of his hands, his palms. "You know what I am." **

**Far back inside his skull, the shackled boy's second set of teeth began to grind. **

**"Shadowhunter," he hissed. **

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner!" Isabelle laughed.

**The other boy grinned all over his face. "Got you," he said. **

**Clary pushed the door to the storage room open, and stepped inside. For a moment she thought it was deserted. The only windows were high up and barred; faint street noise came through them, the sound of honking cars and squealing brakes. The room smelled like old paint, and a heavy layer of dust covered the floor, marked by smeared shoe prints. **

**There's no one in here, she realized, looking around in bewilderment. It was cold in the room, despite the August heat outside. Her back was icy with sweat. She took a step forward, tangling her feet in electrical wires. She bent down to free her sneaker from the cables—and heard voices. A girl's laugh, a boy answering sharply. When she straightened up, she saw them. **

**It was as if they had sprung into existence between one blink of her eyes and the next. There was the girl in her long white dress, her black hair hanging down her back like damp seaweed.**

"Damp seaweed?" Isabelle asked Clary with disappointment.

**The two boys were with her—the tall one with black hair like hers, and the smaller, fair one, whose hair gleamed like brass in the dim light coming through the windows high above. The fair boy was standing with his hands in his pockets, facing the punk kid, who was tied to a pillar with what looked like piano wire, his hands stretched behind him, his legs bound at the ankles. His face was pulled tight with pain and fear. Heart hammering in her chest, Clary ducked behind the nearest concrete pillar and peered around it. She watched as the fair-haired boy paced back and forth, his arms now crossed over his chest. "So," he said. "You still haven't told me if there are any other of your kind with you." **

**Your kind? Clary wondered what he was talking about. Maybe she'd stumbled into some kind of gang war. **

"Close enough," Isabelle said after thinking for a moment.

**"I don't know what you're talking about." The blue-haired boy's tone was pained but surly. **

**"He means other demons," said the dark-haired boy, speaking for the first time. "You do know what a demon is, don't you?" **

**The boy tied to the pillar turned his face away, his mouth working. **

**"Demons," drawled the blond boy, tracing the word on the air with his finger. "Religiously defined as hell's denizens, the servants of Satan, but understood here, for the purposes of the Clave, to be any malevolent spirit whose origin is outside our own home dimension—" **

**"That's enough, Jace," said the girl. **

**"Isabelle's right," agreed the taller boy. "Nobody here needs a lesson in semantics—or demonology." **

**They're crazy, Clary thought. Actually crazy. **

**Jace raised his head and smiled. There was something fierce about the gesture, something that reminded Clary of documentaries she'd watched about lions on the Discovery Channel, the way the big cats would raise their heads and sniff the air for prey. **

**"Isabelle and Alec think I talk too much," he said, confidingly. "Do you think I talk too much?" **

**The blue-haired boy didn't reply. His mouth was still working. "I could give you information," he said. "I know where Valentine is."**

"I wonder what he would have said if you had let him tell you." Simon thought out loud. Alec continued reading, getting annoyed with all of the interruptions.

**Jace glanced back at Alec, who shrugged. "Valentine's in the ground," Jace said. "The thing's just toying with us." **

**Isabelle tossed her hair. "Kill it, Jace," she said. "It's not going to tell us anything." **

**Jace raised his hand, and Clary saw dim light spark off the knife he was holding. It was oddly translucent, the blade clear as crystal, sharp as a shard of glass, the hilt set with red stones. **

**The bound boy gasped. "Valentine is back!" he protested, dragging at the bonds that held his hands behind his back. "All the Infernal Worlds know it—I know it—I can tell you where he is—" **

**Rage flared suddenly in Jace's icy eyes. "By the Angel, every time we capture one of you bastards, you claim you know where Valentine is. Well, we know where he is too. He's in hell. And you—" Jace turned the knife in his grasp, the edge sparking like a line of fire. "You can join him there." **

**Clary could take no more. She stepped out from behind the pillar. "Stop!" she cried. "You can't do this." **

**Jace whirled, so startled that the knife flew from his hand and clattered against the concrete floor. Isabelle and Alec turned along with him, wearing identical expressions of astonishment. The blue-haired boy hung in his bonds, stunned and gaping. **

**It was Alec who spoke first. "What's this?" he demanded, looking from Clary to his companions, as if they might know what she was doing there. **

Alec blushed as everyone laughed at his comment.

**"It's a girl," Jace said, recovering his composure. "Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one." He took a step closer to Clary, squinting as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. "A mundie girl," he said, half to himself. "And she can see us." **

**"Of course I can see you," Clary said. "I'm not blind, you know." **

**"Oh, but you are," said Jace, bending to pick up his knife. "You just don't know it." He straightened up. "You'd better get out of here, if you know what's good for you." **

**"I'm not going anywhere," Clary said. "If I do, you'll kill him." She pointed at the boy with the blue hair. **

**"That's true," admitted Jace, twirling the knife between his fingers. "What do you care if I kill him or not?" **

"Have you ever heard of first impression?" Isabelle asked while laughing.

**"Be-because—," Clary spluttered. "You can't just go around killing people." **

**"You're right," said Jace. "You can't go around killing people." He pointed at the boy with blue hair, whose eyes were slitted. Clary wondered if he'd fainted. "That's not a person, little girl. It may look like a person and talk like a person and maybe even bleed like a person. But it's a monster." **

**"Jace," said Isabelle warningly. "That's enough." **

**"You're crazy," Clary said, backing away from him. "I've called the police, you know. They'll be here any second." **

**"She's lying," said Alec, but there was doubt on his face. "Jace, do you—" **

**He never got to finish his sentence. At that moment the blue-haired boy, with a high, yowling cry, tore free of the restraints binding him to the pillar, and flung himself on Jace. **

**They fell to the ground and rolled together, the blue-haired boy tearing at Jace with hands that glittered as if tipped with metal. Clary backed up, wanting to run, but her feet caught on a loop of wiring and she went down, knocking the breath out of her chest. She could hear Isabelle shrieking. Rolling over, Clary saw the blue-haired boy sitting on Jace's chest. Blood gleamed at the tips of his razorlike claws. **

**Isabelle and Alec were running toward them, Isabelle brandishing a whip in her hand. The blue-haired boy slashed at Jace with claws extended. Jace threw an arm up to protect himself, and the claws raked it, splattering blood. The blue-haired boy lunged again—and Isabelle's whip came down across his back. He shrieked and fell to the side. **

**Swift as a flick of Isabelle's whip, Jace rolled over. There was a blade gleaming in his hand. He sank the knife into the blue-haired boy's chest. Blackish liquid exploded around the hilt. The boy arched off the floor, gurgling and twisting. With a grimace Jace stood up. His black shirt was blacker now in some places, wet with blood. He looked down at the twitching form at his feet, reached down, and yanked out the knife. The hilt was slick with black fluid. **

**The blue-haired boy's eyes flickered open. His eyes, fixed on Jace, seemed to burn. Between his teeth, he hissed, "So be it. The Forsaken will take you all." **

**Jace seemed to snarl. The boy's eyes rolled back. His body began to jerk and twitch as he crumpled, folding in on himself, growing smaller and smaller until he vanished entirely. **

**Clary scrambled to her feet, kicking free of the electrical wiring. She began to back away. None of them was paying attention to her. Alec had reached Jace and was holding his arm, pulling at the sleeve, probably trying to get a good look at the wound. Clary turned to run—and found her way blocked by Isabelle, whip in hand. The gold length of it was stained with dark fluid. She flicked it toward Clary, and the end wrapped itself around her wrist and jerked tight. Clary gasped with pain and surprise. **

**"Stupid little mundie," Isabelle said between her teeth. "You could have gotten Jace killed." **

Isabelle glanced at Clary apologetically but didn't say anything.

**"He's crazy," Clary said, trying to pull her wrist back. The whip bit deeper into her skin. "You're all crazy. What do you think you are, vigilante killers? The police—" **

**"The police aren't usually interested unless you can produce a body," said Jace. Cradling his arm, he picked his way across the cable-strewn floor toward Clary. Alec followed behind him, face screwed into a scowl. **

**Clary glanced at the spot where the boy had disappeared from, and said nothing. There wasn't even a smear of blood there—nothing to show that the boy had ever existed. **

**"They return to their home dimensions when they die," said Jace. "In case you were wondering." **

**"Jace," Alec hissed. "Be careful." **

**Jace drew his arm away. A ghoulish freckling of blood marked his face. He still reminded her of a lion, with his wide-spaced, light-colored eyes, and that tawny gold hair. "She can see us, Alec," he said. "She already knows too much." **

**"So what do you want me to do with her?" Isabelle demanded. **

**"Let her go," Jace said quietly. Isabelle shot him a surprised, almost angry look, but didn't argue. The whip slithered away, freeing Clary's arm. She rubbed her sore wrist and wondered how the hell she was going to get out of there. **

**"Maybe we should bring her back with us," Alec said. "I bet Hodge would like to talk to her." **

"If you had gone with us, do you think that your mother would have come to the Institute if Hodge had recognized her?" Jace asked Clary. Clary could only shrug because she didn't know what would have happened.

**"No way are we bringing her to the Institute," said Isabelle. "She's a mundie." **

**"Or is she?" said Jace softly. His quiet tone was worse than Isabelle's snapping or Alec's anger. "Have you had dealings with demons, little girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you—" **

"Do you know how crazy you sound?" Simon asked with a laugh that with quickly cut off at Jace's glare.

**"My name is not 'little girl,'" Clary interrupted. "And I have no idea what you're talking about." Don't you? said a voice in the back of her head. You saw that boy vanish into thin air. Jace isn't crazy—you just wish he was. "I don't believe in—in demons, or whatever you—" **

**"Clary?" It was Simon's voice. She whirled around. He was standing by the storage room door. One of the burly bouncers who'd been stamping hands at the front door was next to him. "Are you okay?" He peered at her through the gloom. "Why are you in here by yourself? What happened to the guys—you know, the ones with the knives?" **

**Clary stared at him, then looked behind her, where Jace, Isabelle, and Alec stood, Jace still in his bloody shirt with the knife in his hand. He grinned at her and dropped a half-apologetic, half-mocking shrug. Clearly he wasn't surprised that neither Simon nor the bouncer could see them. **

**Somehow neither was Clary. Slowly she turned back to Simon, knowing how she must look to him, standing alone in a damp storage room, her feet tangled in bright plastic wiring cables. "I thought they went in here," she said lamely. "But I guess they didn't. I'm sorry." She glanced from Simon, whose expression was changing from worried to embarrassed, to the bouncer, who just looked annoyed. "It was a mistake." **

**Behind her, Isabelle giggled. **

**"I don't believe it," Simon said stubbornly as Clary, standing at the curb, tried desperately to hail a cab. Street cleaners had come down Orchard while they were inside the club, and the street was glossed black with oily water. **

**"I know," she agreed. "You'd think there'd be some cabs. Where is everyone going at midnight on a Sunday?" She turned back to him, shrugging. "You think we'd have better luck on Houston?" **

**"Not the cabs," Simon said. "You—I don't believe you. I don't believe those guys with the knives just disappeared." **

**Clary sighed. "Maybe there weren't any guys with knives, Simon. Maybe I just imagined the whole thing." **

**"No way." Simon raised his hand over his head, but the oncoming taxis whizzed by him, spraying dirty water. "I saw your face when I came into that storage room. You looked seriously freaked out, like you'd seen a ghost." **

**Clary thought of Jace with his lion-cat eyes. She glanced down at her wrist, braceleted by a thin red line where Isabelle's whip had curled. No, not a ghost, she thought. Something even weirder than that. **

**"It was just a mistake," she said wearily. She wondered why she wasn't telling him the truth. Except, of course, that he'd think she was crazy. And there was something about what had happened—something about the black blood bubbling up around Jace's knife, something about his voice when he'd said Have you talked with the Night Children? that she wanted to keep to herself. "Well, it was a hell of an embarrassing mistake," Simon said. He glanced back at the club, where a thin line still snaked out the door and halfway down the block. "I doubt they'll ever let us back into Pandemonium." **

**"What do you care? You hate Pandemonium." Clary raised her hand again as a yellow shape sped toward them through the fog. This time, though, the taxi screeched to a halt at their corner, the driver laying into his horn as if he needed to get their attention. **

**"Finally we get lucky." Simon yanked the taxi door open and slid onto the plastic-covered backseat. Clary followed, inhaling the familiar New York cab smell of old cigarette smoke, leather, and hair spray. "We're going to Brooklyn," Simon said to the cabbie, and then he turned to Clary. "Look, you know you can tell me anything, right?" **

**Clary hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Sure, Simon," she said. "I know I can." **

Simon raised an eyebrow at Clary and asked "you lied?"

"Well what else was I going to do? Tell you that I saw invisible people?" Clary shot back.

Simon shrugged as Alec began to read again.

**She slammed the cab door shut behind her, and the taxi took off into the night. **

"That's the end of the chapter," Alec said as he passed the book over to Jace. He took it without responding and began to read.


	2. Secrets and Lies

**2 **

**Secrets and Lies**

Jace stopped reading and turned the book to look at the cover. "Why is my naked chest on the cover of the book?" He asked.

"Well it's a very nice looking naked chest," Isabelle said with a laugh.

**The dark prince sat astride his black steed, his sable cape flowing behind him. A golden circlet bound his blond locks, his handsome face was cold with the rage of battle, and… **

**"And his arm looked like an eggplant,"**

Everyone burst out laughing while Clary blushed.

**Clary muttered to herself in exasperation. The drawing just wasn't working. With a sigh she tore yet another sheet from her sketchpad, crumpled it up, and tossed it against the orange wall of her bedroom. Already the floor was littered with discarded balls of paper, a sure sign that her creative juices weren't flowing the way she'd hoped. She wished for the thousandth time that she could be a bit more like her mother. Everything Jocelyn Fray drew, painted, or sketched was beautiful, and seemingly effortless. **

**Clary pulled her headphones out—cutting off Stepping Razor in midsong—and rubbed her aching temples. It was only then that she became aware that the loud, piercing sound of a ringing telephone was echoing through the apartment. Tossing the sketchpad onto the bed, she jumped to her feet and ran into the living room, where the retro-red phone sat on a table near the front door. **

**"Is this Clarissa Fray?" The voice on the other end of the phone sounded familiar, though not immediately identifiable. **

**Clary twirled the phone cord nervously around her finger. "Yeees?" **

**"Hi, I'm one of the knife-carrying hooligans you met last night in Pandemonium? I'm afraid I made a bad impression and was hoping you'd give me a chance to make it up to—" **

Alec looked at Jace and asked, "How'd you get her number?"

Jace raised an eyebrow and continued reading.

**"SIMON!" Clary held the phone away from her ear as he cracked up laughing. "That is so not funny!"**

"Oh," Alec said while everyone but Jace laughed. Simon looked quite pleased with himself.

**"Sure it is. You just don't see the humor." **

**"Jerk." Clary sighed, leaning up against the wall. "You wouldn't be laughing if you'd been here when I got home last night." **

**"Why not?" **

**"My mom. She wasn't happy that we were late. She freaked out. It was messy." **

**"What? It's not our fault there was traffic!" Simon protested. He was the youngest of three children and had a finely honed sense of familial injustice. **

**"Yeah, well, she doesn't see it that way. I disappointed her, I let her down, I made her worry, blah blah blah. I am the **_**bane **_**of her **_**existence," **_**Clary said, mimicking her mother's precise phrasing with only a slight twinge of guilt. **

**"So, are you grounded?" Simon asked, a little too loudly. Clary could hear a low rumble of voices behind him; people talking over each other. **

**"I don't know yet," she said. "My mom went out this morning with Luke, and they're not back yet. Where are you, anyway? Eric's?" **

**"Yeah. We just finished up practice." A cymbal clashed behind Simon. Clary winced. "Eric's doing a poetry reading over at Java Jones tonight," Simon went on, naming a coffee shop around the corner from Clary's that sometimes had live music at night. "The whole band's going to go to show their support. Want to come?" **

**"Yeah, all right." Clary paused, tugging on the phone cord anxiously. "Wait, no."**

**"Shut up, guys, will you?" Simon yelled, the faintness of his voice making Clary suspect that he was holding the phone away from his mouth. He was back a second later, sounding troubled. "Was that a yes or a no?" **

**"I don't know." Clary bit her lip. "My mom's still mad at me about last night. I'm not sure I want to piss her off by asking for any favors. If I'm going to get in trouble, I don't want it to be on account of Eric's lousy poetry." **

"Why would you, it's terrible," Jace said while Clary couldn't help but agree.

**"Come on, it's not so bad," Simon said. **

"Really?" Jace snorted. Simon glared at him, even though he knew that Jace was right.

**Eric was his next-door neighbor, and the two had known each other most of their lives. They weren't close the way Simon and Clary were, but they had formed a rock band together at the start of sophomore year, along with Eric's friends Matt and Kirk. They practiced together faithfully in Eric's parents' garage every week. "Besides, it's not a favor," Simon added, "it's a poetry slam around the block from your house. It's not like I'm inviting you to some orgy in Hoboken. Your mom can come along if she wants." **

**"ORGY IN HOBOKEN!" Clary heard someone, probably Eric, yell. Another cymbal crashed. She imagined her mother listening to Eric read his poetry, and she shuddered inwardly. **

**"I don't know. If all of you show up here, I think she'll freak." **

**"Then I'll come alone. I'll pick you up and we can walk over there together, meet the rest of them there. Your mom won't mind. She loves me." **

"Shows how good her judgment is," Jace said with a laugh while Simon glared at him.

**Clary had to laugh. "Sign of her questionable taste, if you ask me." **

Isabelle and Alec chuckled at Clary and Jace's comments.

**"Nobody did." Simon clicked off, amid shouts from his bandmates. **

**Clary hung up the phone and glanced around the living room. Evidence of her mother's artistic tendencies was everywhere, from the handmade velvet throw pillows piled on the dark red sofa to the walls hung with Jocelyn's paintings, carefully framed—landscapes, mostly: the winding streets of downtown Manhattan lit with golden light; scenes of Prospect Park in winter, the gray ponds edged with lacelike films of white ice. **

**On the mantel over the fireplace was a framed photo of Clary's father.**

Alec and Isabelle looked at each other and then at Clary.

"I thought you didn't know about Valentine," Alec said in confusion.

Clary didn't answer but gestured to Jace to keep reading.

**A thoughtful-looking fair man in military dress, his eyes bore the telltale traces of laugh lines at the corners. He'd been a decorated soldier serving overseas. Jocelyn had some of his medals in a small box by her bed. Not that the medals had done anyone any good when Jonathan Clark had crashed his car into a tree just outside Albany and died before his daughter was even born.**

Jace couldn't help but feel sorry for his father. He knew how much Valentine had missed Jocelyn, who had pretended that Valentine had never existed.

**Jocelyn had gone back to using her maiden name after he died. She never talked about Clary's father, but she kept the box engraved with his initials, J. C, next to her bed. Along with the medals were one or two photos, a wedding ring, and a single lock of blond hair.**

Everyone looked at Jace instinctively who pretended not to notice.

**Sometimes Jocelyn took the box out and opened it and held the lock of hair very gently in her hands before putting it back and carefully locking the box up again.**

Clary felt sorry for her mother who had thought her son was dead all of these years. She wondered how her mother would react to waking up and finding her "dead" son.

**The sound of the key turning in the front door roused Clary out of her reverie. Hastily she threw herself down on the couch and tried to look as if she were immersed in one of the paperbacks her mother had left stacked on the end table. Jocelyn recognized reading as a sacred pastime and usually wouldn't interrupt Clary in the middle of a book, even to yell at her. **

**The door opened with a thump. It was Luke, his arms full of what looked like big square pieces of pasteboard. When he set them down, Clary saw that they were cardboard boxes, folded flat. He straightened up and turned to her with a smile. **

**"Hey, Un—hey, Luke," she said. He'd asked her to stop calling him Uncle Luke about a year ago, claiming that it made him feel old, and anyway reminded him of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Besides, he'd reminded her gently, he wasn't really her uncle, just a close friend of her mother's who'd known her all her life. "Where's Mom?" **

**"Parking the truck," he said, straightening his lanky frame with a groan. He was dressed in his usual uniform: old jeans, a flannel shirt, and a bent pair of gold-rimmed spectacles that sat askew on the bridge of his nose. "Remind me again why this building has no service elevator?" **

**"Because it's old, and has **_**character," **_**Clary said immediately. Luke grinned. "What are the boxes for?" she asked. **

**His grin vanished. "Your mother wanted to pack up some things," he said, avoiding her gaze. **

**"What things?" Clary asked. **

**He gave an airy wave. "Extra stuff lying around the house. Getting in the way. You know she never throws anything out. So what are you up to? Studying?" He plucked the book out of her hand and read out loud: **_**"The world still teems with those motley beings whom a more sober philosophy has discarded. Fairies and goblins, ghosts and demons, still hover about**_**—" He lowered the book and looked at her over his glasses. "Is this for school?" **

_**"The Golden Bough? **_**No. School's not for a few weeks." Clary took the book back from him. "It's my mom's." **

**"I had a feeling." **

**She dropped it back on the table. "Luke?" **

**"Uh-huh?" The book already forgotten, he was rummaging in the tool kit next to the hearth. "Ah, here it is." He pulled out an orange plastic tape gun and gazed at it with deep satisfaction. **

**"What would you do if you saw something nobody else could see?"**

"Bet he wasn't expecting that," Alec said with a laugh while Isabelle grinned.

**The tape gun fell out of Luke's hand, and hit the tiled hearth. He knelt to pick it up, not looking at her. "You mean if I were the only witness to a crime, that sort of thing?" **

**"No. I mean, if there were other people around, but you were the only one who could see something. As if it were invisible to everyone but you." **

**He hesitated, still kneeling, the dented tape gun gripped in his hand. **

**"I know it sounds crazy," Clary ventured nervously, "but…" **

**He turned around. His eyes, very blue behind the glasses, rested on her with a look of firm affection. "Clary, you're an artist, like your mother. That means you see the world in ways that other people don't. It's your gift, to see the beauty and the horror in ordinary things. It doesn't make you crazy—just different. There's nothing wrong with being different." **

"He's right you know," Isabelle smiled at Clary who returned the smile.

**Clary pulled her legs up, and rested her chin on her knees. In her mind's eye she saw the storage room, Isabelle's gold whip, the blue-haired boy convulsing in his death spasms, and Jace's tawny eyes. **_**Beauty and horror. **_**She said, "If my dad had lived, do you think he'd have been an artist too?" **

**Luke looked taken aback. Before he could answer her, the door swung open and Clary's mother stalked into the room, her boot heels clacking on the polished wooden floor. She handed Luke a set of jingling car keys and turned to look at her daughter. **

**Jocelyn Fray was a slim, compact woman, her hair a few shades darker than Clary's and twice as long. At the moment it was twisted up in a dark red knot, stuck through with a graphite pen to hold it in place. She wore paint-spattered overalls over a lavender T-shirt, and brown hiking boots whose soles were caked with oil paint. **

**People always told Clary that she looked like her mother, but she couldn't see it herself. The only thing that was similar about them was their figures: They were both slender, with small chests and narrow hips. She knew she wasn't beautiful like her mother was. To be beautiful you had to be willowy and tall. When you were as short as Clary was, just over five feet, you were cute. Not pretty or beautiful, but cute. Throw in carroty hair and a face full of freckles, and she was a Raggedy Ann to her mother's Barbie doll. **

**Jocelyn even had a graceful way of walking that made people turn their heads to watch her go by. Clary, by contrast, was always tripping over her feet. The only time people turned to watch her go by was when she hurtled past them as she fell downstairs. **

**"Thanks for bringing the boxes up," Clary's mother said to Luke, and smiled at him. He didn't return the smile. Clary's stomach did an uneasy flip. Clearly there was something going on. "Sorry it took me so long to find a space. There must be a million people at the park today—" **

**"Mom?" Clary interrupted. "What are the boxes for?" **

**Jocelyn bit her lip. Luke flicked his eyes toward Clary, mutely urging Jocelyn forward. With a nervous twitch of her wrist, Jocelyn pushed a dangling lock of hair behind her ear and went to join her daughter on the couch. **

**Up close Clary could see how tired her mother looked. There were dark half-moons under her eyes, and her lids were pearly with sleeplessness. **

**"Is this about last night?" Clary asked. **

**"No," her mother said quickly, and then hesitated. "Maybe a little. You shouldn't have done what you did last night. You know better." **

**"And I already apologized. What is this about? If you're grounding me, get it over with." **

**"I'm not," said her mother, "grounding you." Her voice was as taut as a wire. She glanced at Luke, who shook his head. **

**"Just tell her, Jocelyn," he said. **

**"Could you not talk about me like I'm not here?" Clary said angrily. "And what do you mean, tell me? Tell me what?" **

**Jocelyn expelled a sigh. "We're going on vacation." **

**Luke's expression went blank, like a canvas wiped clean of paint. **

**Clary shook her head. "That's what this is about? You're going on vacation?" She sank back against the cushions. "I don't get it. Why the big production?" **

**"I don't think you understand. I meant we're all going on vacation. The three of us—you, me, and Luke. We're going to the farmhouse." **

**"Oh." Clary glanced at Luke, but he had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring out the window, his jaw pulled tight. She wondered what was upsetting him. He loved the old farmhouse in upstate New York—he'd bought and restored it himself ten years before, and he went there whenever he could. "For how long?" **

**"For the rest of the summer," said Jocelyn. "I brought the boxes in case you want to pack up any books, painting supplies—" **

**"For the **_**rest of the summer?" **_**Clary sat upright with indignation. "I can't do that, Mom. I have plans—Simon and I were going to have a back-to-school party, and I've got a bunch of meetings with my art group, and ten more classes at Tisch—" **

**"I'm sorry about Tisch. But the other things can be canceled. Simon will understand, and so will your art group." **

**Clary heard the implacability in her mother's tone and realized she was serious. "But I paid for those art classes! I saved up all year! You promised." She whirled, turning to Luke. "Tell her! Tell her it isn't fair!" **

Clary sighed heavily, remembering how harsh she had been towards her mother when she had only been trying to protect her.

**Luke didn't look away from the window, though a muscle jumped in his cheek. "She's your mother. It's her decision to make." **

**"I don't get it." Clary turned back to her mother. "Why?" **

**"I have to get away, Clary," Jocelyn said, the corners of her mouth trembling. "I need the peace, the quiet, to paint. And money is tight right now—" **

**"So sell some more of Dad's stocks," Clary said angrily. "That's what you usually do, isn't it?" **

Clary bowed her head while Simon touched her arm reassuringly.

**Jocelyn recoiled. "That's hardly fair." **

**"Look, go if you want to go. I don't care. I'll stay here without you. I can work; I can get a job at Starbucks or something. Simon said they're always hiring. I'm old enough to take care of myself—" **

**"No!" The sharpness in Jocelyn's voice made Clary jump. "I'll pay you back for the art classes, Clary. But you are coming with us. It isn't optional. You're too young to stay here on your own. Something could happen." **

Clary sighed again, wishing that she had gone with her mother willingly. All of this could have been avoided if she had trusted her mother.

**"Like what? What could happen?" Clary demanded. **

**There was a crash. She turned in surprise to find that Luke had knocked over one of the framed pictures leaning against the wall. Looking distinctly upset, he set it back. When he straightened, his mouth was set in a grim line. "I'm leaving." **

**Jocelyn bit her lip. "Wait." She hurried after him into the entryway, catching up just as he seized the doorknob. Twisting around on the sofa, Clary could just overhear her mother's urgent whisper."… Bane," Jocelyn was saying. "I've been calling him and calling him for the past three weeks. His voice mail says he's in Tanzania. What am I supposed to do?" **

**"Jocelyn." Luke shook his head. "You can't keep going to him forever." **

**"But Clary—" **

**"Isn't Jonathan," Luke hissed. "You've never been the same since it happened, but Clary **_**isn't Jonathan."**_

Again everyone's eyes flashed to Jace, but his face was expressionless.

_**What does my father have to do with this? **_**Clary thought, bewildered. **

**"I can't just keep her at home, not let her go out. She won't put up with it." **

**"Of course she won't!" Luke sounded really angry. "She's not a pet, she's a teenager. Almost an adult." **

**"If we were out of the city…" **

**"Talk to her, Jocelyn." Luke's voice was firm. "I mean it." He reached for the doorknob. **

**The door flew open. Jocelyn gave a little scream. **

**"Jesus!" Luke exclaimed. **

**"Actually, it's just me," said Simon. "Although I've been told the resemblance is startling." He waved at Clary from the doorway. "You ready?" **

**Jocelyn took her hand away from her mouth. "Simon, were you eavesdropping?" **

**Simon blinked. "No, I just got here." He looked from Jocelyn's pale face to Luke's grim one. "Is something wrong? Should I go?" **

**"Don't bother," Luke said. "I think we're done here." He pushed past Simon, thudding down the stairs at a rapid pace. Downstairs, the front door slammed shut. **

**Simon hovered in the doorway, looking uncertain. "I can come back later," he said. "Really. It wouldn't be a problem." **

**"That might—," Jocelyn began, but Clary was already on her feet. **

**"Forget it, Simon. We're leaving," she said, grabbing her messenger bag from a hook near the door. She slung it over her shoulder, glaring at her mother. "See you later, Mom." **

**Jocelyn bit her lip. "Clary, don't you think we should talk about this?" **

**"We'll have plenty of time to talk while we're on 'vacation,'" Clary said venomously, and had the satisfaction of seeing her mother flinch. "Don't wait up," she added, and, grabbing Simon's arm, she half-dragged him out the front door. **

**He dug his heels in, looking apologetically over his shoulder at Clary's mother, who stood small and forlorn in the entryway, her hands knitted tightly together. "Bye, Mrs. Fray!" he called. "Have a nice evening!" **

**"Oh, shut up, Simon," Clary snapped, and slammed the door behind them, cutting off her mother's reply. **

Clary felt tears well in her eyes as she listened to her and her mother's goodbye, remembering the last time she had seen her.

"You'll talk to her soon," Simon reassured her.

"I know," she replied, but that day couldn't come soon enough.

**"Jesus, woman, don't rip my arm off," Simon protested as Clary hauled him downstairs after her, her green Skechers slapping against the wooden stairs with every angry step. She glanced up, half-expecting to see her mother glaring down from the landing, but the apartment door stayed shut. **

**"Sorry," Clary muttered, letting go of his wrist. She paused at the foot of the stairs, her messenger bag banging against her hip. **

**Clary's brownstone, like most in Park Slope, had once been the single residence of a wealthy family. Shades of its former grandeur were still evident in the curving staircase, the chipped marble entryway floor, and the wide single-paned skylight overhead. Now the house was split into separate apartments, and Clary and her mother shared the three-floor building with a downstairs tenant, an elderly woman who ran a psychic's shop out of her apartment. She hardly ever came out of it, though customer visits were infrequent. A gold plaque fixed to the door proclaimed her to be MADAME DOROTHEA, SEERESS AND PROPHETESS. **

**The thick sweet scent of incense spilled from the half-open door into the foyer. Clary could hear a low murmur of voices. **

**"Nice to see she's doing a booming business," Simon said. "It's hard to get steady prophet work these days." **

**"Do you have to be sarcastic about everything?" Clary snapped. **

**Simon blinked, clearly taken aback. "I thought you liked it when I was witty and ironic." **

**Clary was about to reply when the door to Madame Dorothea's swung fully open and a man stepped out. He was tall, with maple-syrup-colored skin, gold-green eyes like a cat's, and tangled black hair. He grinned at her blindingly, showing sharp white teeth. **

**A wave of dizziness came over her, the strong sensation that she was going to faint. **

**Simon glanced at her uneasily. "Are you all right? You look like you're going to pass out." **

**She blinked at him. "What? No, I'm fine." **

**He didn't seem to want to let it drop. "You look like you just saw a ghost." **

"Well I kind of did," Clary said.

**She shook her head. The memory of having seen something teased her, but when she tried to concentrate, it slid away like water. "Nothing. I thought I saw Dorothea's cat, but I guess it was just a trick of the light." Simon stared at her. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday," she added defensively. "I guess I'm a little out of it." **

**He slid a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Come on, I'll buy you some food." **

**"I just can't believe she's being like this," Clary said for the fourth time, chasing a stray bit of guacamole around her plate with the tip of a nacho. They were at a neighborhood Mexican joint, a hole in the wall called Nacho Mama. "Like grounding me every other week wasn't bad enough. Now I'm going to be exiled for the rest of the summer." **

**"Well, you know, your mom gets like this sometimes," Simon said. "Like when she breathes in or out." He grinned at her around his veggie burrito. **

**"Oh, sure, act like it's funny," she said. **_**"You're **_**not the one getting dragged off to the middle of nowhere for God knows how long—" **

_**"Clary." **_**Simon interrupted her tirade. "I'm not the one you're mad at. Besides, it isn't going to be permanent." **

**"How do you know that?" **

**"Well, because I know your mom," Simon said, after a pause. "I mean, you and I have been friends for what, ten years now? I know she gets like this sometimes. She'll think better of it." **

**Clary picked a hot pepper off her plate and nibbled the edge meditatively. "Do you, though?" she said. "Know her, I mean? I sometimes wonder if anyone does." Simon blinked at her. "You lost me there." **

**Clary sucked in air to cool her burning mouth. "I mean, she never talks about herself. I don't know anything about her early life, or her family, or much about how she met my dad. She doesn't even have wedding photos. It's like her life started when she had me. That's what she always says when I ask her about it." **

**"Aw." Simon made a face at her. "That's sweet." **

**"No, it isn't. It's weird. It's weird that I don't know anything about my grandparents. I mean, I know my dad's parents weren't very nice to her, but could they have been **_**that **_**bad? What kind of people don't want to even meet their granddaughter?" **

**"Maybe she hates them. Maybe they were abusive or something," Simon suggested. "She does have those scars." **

**Clary stared at him. "She has what?" **

**He swallowed a mouthful of burrito. "Those little thin scars. All over her back and her arms. I **_**have **_**seen your mother in a bathing suit, you know." **

**"I never noticed any scars," Clary said decidedly. "I think you're imagining things." **

**He stared at her, and seemed about to say something when her cell phone, buried in her messenger bag, began an insistent blaring. Clary fished it out, gazed at the numbers blinking on the screen, and scowled. "It's my mom." **

**"I could tell from the look on your face. You going to talk to her?" **

**"Not right now," Clary said, feeling the familiar bite of guilt in her stomach as the phone stopped ringing and voice mail picked up. "I don't want to fight with her." **

**"You can always stay at my house," Simon said. "For as long as you want." **

**"Well, we'll see if she calms down first." Clary punched the voice mail button on her phone. Her mother's voice sounded tense, but she was clearly trying for lightness: "Baby, I'm sorry if I sprang the vacation plan on you. Come on home and we'll talk." Clary hung the phone up before the message ended, feeling even guiltier and still angry at the same time. "She wants to talk about it." **

**"Do you want to talk to her?" **

**"I don't know." Clary rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. "Are you still going to the poetry reading?" **

**"I promised I would." **

**Clary stood up, pushing her chair back. "Then I'll go with you. I'll call her when it's over." The strap of her messenger bag slid down her arm. Simon pushed it back up absently, his fingers lingering at the bare skin of her shoulder. **

**The air outside was spongy with moisture, the humidity frizzing Clary's hair and sticking Simon's blue T-shirt to his back. "So, what's up with the band?" she asked. "Anything new? There was a lot of yelling in the background when I talked to you earlier." **

**Simon's face lit up. "Things are great," he said. "Matt says he knows someone who could get us a gig at the Scrap Bar. We're talking about names again too." **

**"Oh, yeah?" Clary hid a smile. Simon's band never actually produced any music. Mostly they sat around in Simon's living room, fighting about potential names and band logos. She sometimes wondered if any of them could actually play an instrument.**

Jace and Alec laughed while Isabelle shook her head at her brothers.

**"What's on the table?" **

**"We're choosing between Sea Vegetable Conspiracy and Rock Solid Panda." **

**Clary shook her head. "Those are both terrible." **

**"Eric suggested Lawn Chair Crisis." **

**"Maybe Eric should stick to gaming." **

**"But then we'd have to find a new drummer." **

**"Oh, is **_**that **_**what Eric does? I thought he just mooched money off you and went around telling girls at school that he was in a band in order to impress them." **

**"Not at all," Simon said breezily. "Eric has turned over a new leaf. He has a girlfriend. They've been going out for three months." **

**"Practically married," Clary said, stepping around a couple pushing a toddler in a stroller: a little girl with yellow plastic clips in her hair who was clutching a pixie doll with gold-streaked sapphire wings. Out of the corner of her eye Clary thought she saw the wings flutter. She turned her head hastily. **

**"Which means," Simon continued, "that I am the last member of the band **_**not **_**to have a girlfriend. Which, you know, is the whole point of being in a band. To get girls." **

**"I thought it was all about the music." A man with a cane cut across her path, heading for Berkeley Street. She glanced away, afraid that if she looked at anyone for too long they would sprout wings, extra arms, or long forked tongues like snakes. "Who cares if you have a girlfriend, anyway?" **

**"I care," Simon said gloomily. "Pretty soon the only people left without a girlfriend will be me and Wendell the school janitor. And he smells like Windex." **

"Hint hint," Jace said while Clary blushed.

**"At least you know he's still available." **

**Simon glared. "Not funny, Fray." **

**"There's always Sheila 'The Thong' Barbarino," Clary suggested. Clary had sat behind her in math class in ninth grade. Every time Sheila had dropped her pencil—which had been often—Clary had been treated to the sight of Sheila's underwear riding up above the waistband of her super-low-rise jeans. **

**"That **_**is **_**who Eric's been dating for the past three months," Simon said. "His advice, meanwhile, was that I ought to just decide which girl in school had the most rockin' bod and ask her out on the first day of classes." **

**"Eric is a sexist pig," Clary said, suddenly not wanting to know which girl in school Simon thought had the most rockin' bod.**

Simon couldn't help but smile knowing that Clary had been jealous.

**"Maybe you should call the band The Sexist Pigs." **

**"It has a ring to it." Simon seemed unfazed. Clary made a face at him, her messenger bag vibrating as her phone blared. She fished it out of the zip pocket. "Is it your mom again?" he asked. **

**Clary nodded. She could see her mother in her mind's eye, small and alone in the doorway of their apartment. Guilt unfurled in her chest. **

**She glanced up at Simon, who was looking at her, his eyes dark with concern. His face was so familiar she could have traced its lines in her sleep. She thought of the lonely weeks that stretched ahead without him, and shoved the phone back into her bag. "Come on," she said. "We're going to be late for the show."**

"That's it," Jace said while throwing the book to Isabelle who caught it easily.


	3. Shadowhunter

**3**

**Shadowhunter**

Isabelle read.

**By the time they got to Java Jones, Eric was already onstage, swaying back and forth in front of the microphone with his eyes squinched shut. He'd dyed the tips of his hair pink for the occasion. Behind him, Matt, looking stoned, was beating irregularly on a djembe.**

**"This is going to suck so hard," Clary predicted. She grabbed Simon's sleeve and tugged him toward the doorway. "If we make a run for it, we can still get away."**

"Wish we did leave," Simon said glumly.

**He shook his head determinedly. "I'm nothing if not a man of my word." He squared his shoulders. "I'll get the coffee if you find us a seat. What do you want?" **

**"Just coffee. Black—**_**like my soul." **_

**Simon headed off toward the coffee bar, muttering under his breath something to the effect that it was a far, far better thing he did now than he had ever done before. Clary went to find them a seat. **

**The coffee shop was crowded for a Monday; most of the threadbare-looking couches and armchairs were taken up with teenagers enjoying a free weeknight. The smell of coffee and clove cigarettes was overwhelming. Finally Clary found an unoccupied love seat in a darkened corner toward the back. The only other person nearby was a blond girl in an orange tank top, absorbed in playing with her iPod. **_**Good, **_**Clary thought, **_**Eric won't be able to find us back here after the show to ask how his poetry was. **_

"What would you have told him?" Alec asked Clary curiously.

"I would have said it was good," Clary responded.

"Wish we had stayed. I could've told him what I thought," Jace laughed.

"And I'm sure that you'd have been nice," Isabelle said with a laugh.

**The blond girl leaned over the side of her chair and tapped Clary on the shoulder. "Excuse me." Clary looked up in surprise. "Is that your boyfriend?" the girl asked. **

**Clary followed the line of the girl's gaze, already prepared to say, No, **_**I don't know him, **_**when she realized the girl meant Simon. He was headed toward them, face scrunched up in concentration as he tried not to drop either of his Styrofoam cups. "Uh, no," Clary said. "He's a friend of mine." **

**The girl beamed. "He's **_**cute. **_**Does he have a girlfriend?" **

**Clary hesitated a second too long before replying. "No." **

**The girl looked suspicious. "Is he gay?" **

Jace and Isabelle laughed.

**Clary was spared responding to this by Simon's return. The blond girl sat back hastily as be set the cups on the table and threw himself down next to Clary. "I hate it when they run out of mugs. Those things are hot." He blew on his fingers and scowled. Clary tried to hide a smile as she watched him. Normally she never thought about whether Simon was good-looking or not. He had pretty dark eyes, she supposed, and he'd filled out well over the past year or so. With the right haircut— "You're staring at me," Simon said. "Why are you staring at me? Have I got something on my face?"**

Clary groaned inwardly, remembering this.

_**I should tell him, **_**she thought, though some part of her was strangely reluctant. **_**I'd be a bad friend if I didn't. **_**"Don't look now, but that blond girl over there thinks you're cute," she whispered. **

**Simon's eyes flicked sideways to stare at the girl, who was industriously studying an issue of **_**Shonen Jump. **_**"The girl in the orange top?" Clary nodded. Simon looked dubious. "What makes you think so?" **

_**Tell him. Go on, tell him. **_**Clary opened her mouth to reply, and was interrupted by a burst of feedback. She winced and covered her ears as Eric, onstage, wrestled with his microphone. **

**"Sorry about that, guys!" he yelled. "All right. I'm Eric, and this is my homeboy Matt on the drums. My first poem is called 'Untitled.'"**

"Creative name," Alec said with a smile.

**He screwed up his face as if in pain, and wailed into the mike. **_**"Come, my faux juggernaut, my nefarious loins! Slather every protuberance with arid zeal!" **_

**Simon slid down in his seat. "Please don't tell anyone I know him." **

**Clary giggled. "Who uses the word loins'?" **

**"Eric," Simon said grimly. "All his poems have loins in them." **

Simon shrugged, "he doesn't think they're poems without them."

_**"Turgid is my torment!" **_**Eric wailed. **_**"Agony swells within!" **_

**"You bet it does," Clary said. She slid down in the seat next to Simon. "Anyway, about that girl who thinks you're cute—" **

**"Never mind that for a second," Simon said. Clary blinked at him in surprise. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about." **

Clary began to blush knowing what would happen.

**"Furious Mole is not a good name for a band," Clary said immediately. **

**"Not that," Simon said. "It's about what we were talking about before. About me not having a girlfriend." **

If he had been able to, Simon would have been blushing as bad as Clary was.

**"Oh." Clary lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Oh, I don't know. Ask Jaida Jones out," she suggested, naming one of the few girls at St. Xavier's she actually liked. "She's nice, and she likes you." **

**"I don't want to ask Jaida Jones out." **

**"Why not?" Clary found herself seized with a sudden, unspecific resentment. "You don't like smart girls? Still seeking a **_**rockin' bod**_**?" **

**"Neither," said Simon, who seemed agitated. "I don't want to ask her out because it wouldn't really be fair to her if I did…" **

**He trailed off. Clary leaned forward. From the corner of her eye she could see the blond girl leaning forward too, plainly eavesdropping. "Why not?" **

**"Because I like someone else," Simon said. **

**"Okay." Simon looked faintly greenish, the way he had once when he'd broken his ankle playing soccer in the park and had had to limp home on it. She wondered what on earth about liking someone could possibly have him wound up to such a pitch of anxiety. "You're not gay, are you?" **

**Simon's greenish color deepened. "If I were, I would dress better." **

**"So, who is it, then?" Clary asked.**

"Honestly Clary, how could you not know?" Isabelle laughed.

Embarrassed, Clary just shrugged.

**She was about to add that if he were in love with Sheila Barbarino, Eric would kick his ass, when she heard someone cough loudly behind her. It was a derisive sort of cough, the kind of noise someone might make who was trying not to laugh out loud. **

**She turned around. **

**Sitting on a faded green sofa a few feet away from her was Jace.**

Simon shot a glare at Jace, only now knowing that he'd heard everything.

**He was wearing the same dark clothes he'd had on the night before in the club. His arms were bare and covered with faint white lines like old scars. His wrists bore wide metal cuffs; she could see the bone handle of a knife protruding from the left one. He was looking right at her, the side of his narrow mouth quirked in amusement.**

"Well, it was funny. You were so oblivious," Jace said with a chuckle.

**Worse than the feeling of being laughed at was Clary's absolute conviction that he hadn't been sitting there five minutes ago. **

**"What is it?" Simon had followed her gaze, but it was obvious from the blank expression on his face that he couldn't see Jace. **

_**But I see you. **_**She stared at Jace as she thought it, and he raised his left hand to wave at her. A ring glittered on a slim finger. He got to his feet and began walking, unhurriedly, toward the door. Clary's lips parted in surprise. He was leaving, just like that. **

**She felt Simon's hand on her arm. He was saying her name, asking her if something was wrong. She barely heard him. "I'll be right back," she heard herself say, as she sprang off the couch, almost forgetting to set her coffee cup down. She raced toward the door, leaving Simon staring after her. **

"Sorry," Clary mumbled. Simon shrugged as to not show how hurt he had been. He had thought that she had run off after figuring out what he had been talking about.

**Clary burst through the doors, terrified that Jace would have vanished into the alley shadows like a ghost. But he was there, slouched against the wall. He had just taken something out of his pocket and was punching buttons on it. He looked up in surprise as the door of the coffee shop fell shut behind her. **

**In the rapidly falling twilight, his hair looked coppery gold. "Your friend's poetry is terrible," he said. **

**Clary blinked, caught momentarily off guard. "What?" **

**"I said his poetry was terrible. It sounds like he ate a dictionary and started vomiting up words at random." **

"And if you had stayed there, I'm sure you'd have told him that," Alec said with a chuckle.

**"I don't care about Eric's poetry." Clary was furious. "I want to know why you're following me." **

**"Who said I was following you?" **

"Technically you followed him," Isabelle pointed out, "that time and in Pandemonium."

Clary didn't reply, just looked embarrassed.

_**"Nice **_**try. And you were eavesdropping, too. Do you want to tell me what this is about, or should I just call the police?" **

**"And tell them what?" Jace said witheringly. "That invisible people are bothering you? Trust me, little girl, the police aren't going to arrest someone they can't see."**

"That'd be funny if they tried," Jace grunted.

**"I told you before, my name is not little girl," she said through her teeth. "It's Clary." **

**"I know," he said. "Pretty name. Like the herb, clary sage. In the old days people thought eating the seeds would let you see the Fair Folk. Did you know that?" **

**"I have no idea what you're talking about." **

**"You don't know much, do you?" he said. There was a lazy contempt in his gold eyes. "You seem to be a mundane like any other mundane, yet you can see me. It's a conundrum." **

**"What's a mundane?" **

**"Someone of the human world. Someone like you." **

**"But **_**you're **_**human," Clary said. **

**"I am," he said. "But I'm not like you." There was no defensiveness in his tone. He sounded like he didn't care if she believed him or not. **

**"You think you're better. That's why you were laughing at us." **

**"I was laughing at you because declarations of love amuse me, especially when unrequited," he said. **

Clary and Simon looked uncomfortable and Jace set his jaw as Isabelle read this.

**"And because your Simon is one of the most mundane mundanes I've ever encountered. And because Hodge thought you might be dangerous, but if you are, you certainly don't know it." **

_**"I'm **_**dangerous?" Clary echoed in astonishment. "I saw you kill someone last night. I saw you drive a knife up under his ribs, and—" **_**And I saw him slash at you with fingers like razor blades. I saw you cut and bleeding, and now you look as if nothing ever touched you. **_

**"I may be a killer," Jace said, "but I know what I am. Can you say the same?" **

**"I'm an ordinary human being, just like you said. Who's Hodge?" **

**"My tutor. And I wouldn't be so quick to brand myself as ordinary, if I were you." He leaned forward. "Let me see your right hand." **

**"My right hand?" Clary echoed. He nodded. "If I show you my hand, will you leave me alone?" **

**"Certainly." His voice was edged with amusement. **

**She held out her right hand grudgingly. It looked pale in the half-light spilling from the windows, the knuckles dotted with a light dusting of freckles. Somehow she felt as exposed as if she were pulling up her shirt and showing him her naked chest.**

Clary sunk down in her seat, blushing dark red but Isabelle quickly read over the part, sparing her more embarrassment.

**He took her hand in his and turned it over. "Nothing." He sounded almost disappointed. "You're not left-handed, are you?" **

**"No. Why?" **

**He released her hand with a shrug. "Most Shadowhunter children get Marked on their right hands—or left, if they're left-handed like I am—when they're still young. It's a permanent rune that lends an extra skill with weapons." He showed her the back of his left hand; it looked perfectly normal to her. **

**"I don't see anything," she said. **

**"Let your mind relax," he suggested. "Wait for it to come to you. Like waiting for something to rise to the surface of water." **

**"You're crazy." But she relaxed, gazing at his hand, seeing the tiny lines across the knuckles, the long joints of the fingers— **

**It jumped out at her suddenly, flashing like a DON'T WALK sign. A black design like an eye across the back of his hand. She blinked, and it vanished. "A tattoo?" **

**He smiled smugly and lowered his hand. "I thought you could do it. And it's not a tattoo—it's a Mark. They're runes, burned into our skin." **

"Is there anything you didn't tell her?" Isabelle asked Jace with a laugh.

**"They make you handle weapons better?" Clary found this hard to believe, though perhaps no more hard to believe than the existence of zombies. **

**"Different Marks do different things. Some are permanent but the majority vanish when they've been used." **

**"That's why your arms aren't all inked up today?" she asked. "Even when I concentrate?" **

**"That's exactly why." He sounded pleased with himself. "I knew you had the Sight, at least." He glanced up at the sky. "It's nearly full dark. We should go." **

**"We? I thought you were going to leave me alone." **

**"I lied," Jace said without a shred of embarrassment. "Hodge said I have to bring you to the Institute with me. He wants to talk to you." **

Clary thought back to the time when Isabelle had said that Jace never lied. She didn't care about this time but her mind was on another promise he had made to her, one she didn't want him to keep.

**"Why would he want to talk to me?" **

**"Because you know the truth now," Jace said. "There hasn't been a mundane who knew about us for at least a hundred years." **

**"About **_**us?" **_**she echoed. "You mean people like you. People who believe in demons." **

**"People who kill them," said Jace. "We're called Shadow-hunters. At least, that's what we call ourselves. The Downworlders have less complimentary names for us." **

**"Downworlders?" **

**"The Night Children. Warlocks. The fey. The magical folk of this dimension." **

**Clary shook her head. "Don't stop there. I suppose there are also, what, vampires and werewolves and zombies?" **

**"Of course there are," Jace informed her. "Although you mostly find zombies farther south, where the **_**voudun **_**priests are." **

**"What about mummies? Do they only hang around Egypt?" **

**"Don't be ridiculous. No one believes in mummies." **

**"They don't?" **

**"Of course not," Jace said. "Look, Hodge will explain all this to you when you see him." **

**Clary crossed her arms over her chest. "What if I don't want to see him?" **

**"That's your problem. You can come either willingly or unwillingly." **

**Clary couldn't believe her ears. "Are you threatening to **_**kidnap **_**me?" **

**"If you want to look at it that way," Jace said, "yes." **

**Clary opened her mouth to protest angrily, but was interrupted by a strident buzzing noise. Her phone was ringing again. **

Clary stiffened, knowing what would happen next.

**"Go ahead and answer that if you like," Jace said generously. **

**The phone stopped ringing, then started up again, loud and insistent. Clary frowned—her mom must really be freaking out. She half-turned away from Jace and began digging in her bag. By the time she unearthed the phone, it was on its third set of rings. She raised it to her ear. "Mom?" **

**"Oh, Clary. Oh, thank God." A sharp prickle of alarm ran up Clary's spine. Her mother sounded panicked. "Listen to me—" **

**"It's all right, Mom. I'm fine. I'm on my way home—" **

_**"No!" **_**Terror scraped Jocelyn's voice raw. "Don't come home! Do you understand me, Clary? Don't you dare come home. Go to Simon's. Go straight to Simon's house and stay there until I can—" A noise in the background interrupted her: the sound of something falling, shattering, something heavy striking the floor— **

**"Mom!" Clary shouted into the phone. "Mom, are you all right?" **

**A loud buzzing noise came from the phone. Clary's mother's voice cut through the static: "Just promise me you won't come home. Go to Simon's and call Luke—tell him that he's found me—" Her words were drowned out by a heavy crash like splintering wood. **

_**"Who's **_**found you? Mom, did you call the police? Did you—" **

**Her frantic question was cut off by a noise Clary would never forget—a harsh, slithering noise, followed by a thump. Clary heard her mother draw in a sharp breath before speaking, her voice eerily calm: "I love you, Clary." **

**The phone went dead. **

No one in the room spoke. Clary had her head bowed, not looking at anyone. After a moment Isabelle continued reading.

_**"Mom!" **_**Clary shrieked into the phone. "Mom, are you there?" **_**Call ended, **_**the screen said. But why would her mother have hung up like that? **

**"Clary," Jace said. It was the first time she'd ever heard him say her name. "What's going on?" **

**Clary ignored him. Feverishly she hit the button that dialed her home number. There was no answer except a double-tone busy signal. **

**Clary's hands had begun to shake uncontrollably. When she tried to redial, the phone slipped out of her shaking grasp and hit the pavement hard. She dropped to her knees to retrieve it, but it was dead, a long crack visible across the front. "Dammit!" Almost in tears, she threw the phone down. **

**"Stop that." Jace hauled her to her feet, his hand gripping her wrist. "Has something happened?" **

**"Give me your phone," Clary said, grabbing the black metal oblong out of his shirt pocket. "I have to—" **

**"It's not a phone," Jace said, making no move to get it back. "It's a Sensor. You won't be able to use it." **

**"But I need to call the police!" **

**"Tell me what happened first." She tried to yank her wrist back, but his grip was incredibly strong. "I can **_**help **_**you." **

"You should have told me," Jace said quietly. Clary sighed, knowing that he was right. In her defense, she hadn't known Jace and she had been in a panic.

**Rage flooded through Clary, a hot tide through her veins. Without even thinking about it, she struck out at his face, her nails raking his cheek. He jerked back in surprise. Tearing herself free, Clary ran toward the lights of Seventh Avenue. **

**When she reached the street, she spun around, half-expecting to see Jace at her heels. But the alley was empty. For a moment she stared uncertainly into the shadows. Nothing moved inside them. She spun on her heel and ran for home. **

"Why didn't you follow her?" Isabelle asked, angry that Jace had let Clary run away when there was clearly something wrong. Clary sat silently letting Simon put his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. Not getting a response from Jace Isabelle handed Simon the book.

**~I think that I'll do half of the book but I'll stop then if no one is reading it. I'd like to know what people think so please review, favorite and follow!**


	4. Ravener

**4 **

**Ravener **

Simon read

**The night had gotten even hotter, and running home felt like swimming as fast as she could through boiling soup. At the corner of her block Clary got trapped at a DON'T WALK sign. She jittered up and down impatiently on the balls of her feet while traffic whizzed by in a blur of headlights. She tried to call home again, but Jace hadn't been lying; his phone **_**wasn't **_**a phone. At least, it didn't look like any phone Clary had ever seen before. The Sensor's buttons didn't have numbers on them, just more of those bizarre symbols, and there was no screen.**

"You're lucky that you didn't throw it away," Jace commented. Clary shivered thinking about what could have happened if she hadn't had the Sensor.

"Why?" Simon asked confused. When no one answered he continued reading.

**Jogging up the street toward her house, she saw that the second-floor windows were lit, the usual sign that her mother was home. **_**Okay, **_**she told herself. **_**Everything's fine. **_**But her stomach tightened the moment she stepped into the entryway. The overhead light had burned out, and the foyer was in darkness. The shadows seemed full of secret movement. Shivering, she started upstairs.**

Everyone in the room tensed.

**"And just where do you think you're going ?" said a voice. **

**Clary whirled. "What—" **

**She broke off. Her eyes were adjusting to the dimness, and she could see the shape of a large armchair, drawn up in front of Madame Dorothea's closed door. The old woman was wedged into it like an overstuffed cushion. In the dimness Clary could see only the round shape of her powdered face, the white lace fan in her hand, the dark, yawning gap of her mouth when she spoke. "Your mother," Dorothea said, "has been making a god awful racket up there. What's she doing? Moving furniture?" **

**"I don't think—" **

**"And the stairwell light's burned out, did you notice?" Dorothea rapped her fan against the arm of the chair. "Can't your mother get her boyfriend in to change it?" **

**"Luke isn't—" **

"More like husband," Alec said with a smile.

"All the responsibility but without any of the perks," Jace added with a laugh.

**"The skylight needs washing too. It's filthy. No wonder it's nearly pitch-black in here." **

_**Luke is NOT the landlord, **_**Clary wanted to say, but didn't. This was typical of her elderly neighbor. Once she got Luke to come around and change the lightbulb, she'd ask him to do a hundred other things—pick up her groceries, grout her shower. Once she'd made him chop up an old sofa with an axe so she could get it out of the apartment without taking the door off the hinges. **

Everyone in the room but Clary laughed. She was waiting for what was going to happen next.

**Clary sighed. "I'll ask." **

**"You'd better." Dorothea snapped her fan shut with a flick of her wrist. **

**Clary's sense that something was wrong only increased when she reached the apartment door. It was unlocked, hanging slightly open, spilling a wedge-shaped shaft of light onto the landing. With a feeling of increasing panic she pushed the door open. **

**Inside the apartment the lights were on, all the lamps, everything turned up to full brightness. The glow stabbed into her eyes. **

**Her mother's keys and pink handbag were on the small wrought iron shelf by the door, where she always left them. "Mom?" Clary called out. "Mom, I'm home." **

Clary sank down in her seat, wanting to skip this chapter.

**There was no reply. She went into the living room. Both windows were open, yards of gauzy white curtains blowing in the breeze like restless ghosts. Only when the wind dropped and the curtains settled did Clary see that the cushions had been ripped from the sofa and scattered around the room. Some were torn lengthwise, cotton innards spilling onto the floor. The bookshelves had been tipped over, their contents scattered. The piano bench lay on its side, gaping open like a wound, Jocelyn's beloved music books spewing out.**

"Why did you go in there? You could've called Luke, the police," Alec suggested.

"She's lucky she didn't. Who ever came would been in danger," Isabelle said.

"Jace would've gotten there before anyone else and would have gotten rid of the ravener," Alec argued.

Isabelle gave up and shrugged.

**Most terrifying were the paintings. Every single one had been cut from its frame and ripped into strips, which were scattered across the floor. It must have been done with a knife—canvas was almost impossible to tear with your bare hands. The empty frames looked like bones picked clean. Clary felt a scream rising up in her chest: **_**"Mom!" **_**she shrieked. **_**"Where are you? Mommy!" **_

**She hadn't called Jocelyn "Mommy" since she was eight. **

"Eight?" Isabelle asked, amusement clear on her face.

"Yeah. So?" Clary snapped back, not in the mood for anyone's comments.

Simon quickly continued reading.

**Heart pumping, she raced into the kitchen. It was empty, the cabinet doors open, a smashed bottle of Tabasco sauce spilling peppery red liquid onto the linoleum. Her knees felt like bags of water. She knew she should race out of the apartment, get to a phone, call the police. But all those things seemed distant—she needed to find her mother ****first****, needed to see that she was all right. What if robbers had come, what if her mother had put up a fight—? **

_**What kind of robbers didn't take a wallet with them, or the TV, the DVD player, or the expensive laptops?**_

"Demons don't have much use for those types of things," Jace pointed out.

Clary rolled her eyes. "Well I didn't know it was a demon," she replied.

**She was at the door to her mother's bedroom now. For a moment it looked as if this room, at least, had been left untouched. Jocelyn's handmade flowered quilt was folded carefully on the duvet. Clary's own face smiled back at her from the top of the bedside table, five years old, gap-toothed smile framed by strawberry hair. A sob rose in Clary's chest. **_**Mom, **_**she cried inside, **_**what happened to you?**_

Everyone in the room was silent. Tears gathered in Clary's eyes as Simon read.

**Silence answered her. No, not silence—a noise sounded through the apartment, raising the short hairs along the nape of her neck. Like something being knocked over—a heavy object striking the floor with a dull thud. The thud was followed by a dragging, slithering noise—and it was coming toward the bedroom. Stomach contracting in terror, Clary scrambled to her feet and turned around slowly. **

**For a moment she thought the doorway was empty, and she felt a wave of relief. Then she looked down. **

**It was crouched against the floor, a long, scaled creature with a cluster of flat black eyes set dead center in the front of its domed skull. Something like a cross between an alligator and a centipede, it had a thick, flat snout and a barbed tail that whipped menacingly from side to side. Multiple legs bunched underneath it as it readied itself to spring. **

Jace leaned forward with anticipation.

"What are you so excited about?" Isabelle asked, noticing the change.

"What? We know that she doesn't die and I want to know how she did it," Jace retorted.

**A shriek tore itself out of Clary's throat. She staggered backward, tripped, and fell, just as the creature lunged at her. She rolled to the side and it missed her by inches, sliding along the wood floor, its claws gouging deep grooves. A low growl bubbled from its throat. **

**She scrambled to her feet and ran toward the hallway, but the thing was too fast for her. It sprang again, landing just above the door, where it hung like a gigantic malignant spider, staring down at her with its cluster of eyes. Its jaws opened slowly, showing a row of fanged teeth spilling greenish drool. A long black tongue flickered out between its jaws as it gurgled and hissed.**

Clary flinched at Simon's words, remembering how terrified she had been.

**To her horror ****Clary**** realized that the noises it was making were words. **

_**"Girl," **_**it hissed. **_**"Flesh. Blood. To eat, oh, to eat." **_

**It began to slither slowly down the wall. Some part of Clary had passed beyond terror into a sort of icy stillness. The thing was on its feet now, crawling toward her. Backing away, she seized a heavy framed photo off the bureau beside her—herself and her mother and Luke at Coney Island, about to go on the bumper cars—and flung it at the monster. **

**The photograph hit its midsection and bounced off, striking the floor with the sound of shattering glass. The creature didn't seem to notice. It came on toward her, broken glass splintering under its feet. "Bones, **_**to crunch, to suck out the marrow, to drink the veins…" **_

Clary shivered hearing the ravener's words.

**Clary's back hit the wall. She could back up no farther. She felt a movement against her hip and nearly jumped out of her skin. Her pocket. Plunging her hand inside, she drew out the plastic thing she'd taken from Jace. The Sensor was shuddering, like a cell phone set to vibrate. The hard material was almost painfully hot against her palm. She closed her hand around the Sensor just as the creature sprang. **

**The creature hurtled into her, knocking her to the ground, and her head and shoulders slammed against the floor. She twisted to the side, but it was too heavy. It was on top of her, an oppressive, slimy weight that made her want to gag. **_**"To eat, to eat," **_**it moaned. **_**"But it is not allowed, to swallow, to savor."**_

"Demons, they never do as they're told," Jace chuckled.

**The hot breath in her face stank of blood. She couldn't breathe. Her ribs felt like they might shatter. Her arm was pinned between her body and the monster's, the Sensor digging into her palm. She twisted, trying to work her hand free. **_**"Valentine will never know. He said nothing about a girl. Valentine will not be angry." **_**Its lipless mouth twitched as its jaws opened, slowly, a wave of stinking breath hot in her face.**

"Do you think Valentine would have been angry?" Clary asked before she could stop herself.

"Yes," Jace said and everyone turned to him, "he cares at least that much."

**Clary's hand came free. With a scream she hit out at the thing, wanting to smash it, to blind it. She had almost forgotten the Sensor. As the creature lunged for her face, jaws wide, she jammed the Sensor between its teeth and felt hot, acidic drool coat her wrist and spill in burning drops onto the bare skin of her face and throat. As if from a distance, she could hear herself screaming. **

**Looking almost surprised, the creature jerked back, the Sensor lodged between two teeth. It growled, a thick angry buzz, and threw its head back. Clary saw it swallow, saw the movement of its throat. **_**I'm next, **_**she thought, panicked. **_**I'm**_**— **

"It's lucky that you took that," Isabelle said and Simon couldn't help but agree.

"Lucky that Jace let her," Alec muttered knowing that Jace could have easily stopped her.

**Suddenly the thing began to twitch. Spasming uncontrollably, it rolled off Clary and onto its back, multiple legs churning the air. Black fluid poured from its mouth. **

**Gasping for air, Clary rolled over and started to scramble away from the thing. She'd nearly reached the door when she heard something whistle through the air next to her head. She tried to duck, but it was too late. An object slammed heavily into the back of her skull, and she collapsed forward into blackness. **

**Light stabbed through her eyelids, blue, white, and red. There was a high wailing noise, rising in pitch like the scream of a terrified child. Clary gagged and opened her eyes. **

**She was lying on cold damp grass. The night sky rippled overhead, the pewter gleam of stars washed out by city lights. Jace knelt beside her,**

Everyone in the room let out a breath that they didn't know they had been holding and the tension in the room dropped knowing that the worst of the chapter was over.

**the silver cuffs on his wrists throwing off sparks of light as he tore the piece of cloth he was holding into strips. "Don't move." **

**The wailing threatened to split her ears in half. Clary turned her head to the side, disobediently, and was rewarded with a razoring stab of pain that shot down her back. She was lying on a patch of grass behind Jocelyn's carefully tended rosebushes. The foliage partially hid her view of the street, where a police car, its blue-and-white light bar flashing, was pulled up to the curb, siren wailing. Already a small knot of neighbors had gathered, staring as the car door opened and two blue-uniformed officers emerged. **

**The **_**police. **_**She tried to sit up, and gagged again, fingers spasming into the damp earth. **

**"I told you not to move," Jace hissed. "That Ravener demon got you in the back of the neck. It was half-dead so it wasn't much of a sting, but we have to get you to the Institute. Hold still." **

**"That thing—the monster—it **_**talked." **_**Clary was shuddering uncontrollably. **

**"You've heard a demon talk before." **

"This one was a demonic looking demon though," Clary defended herself causing the others to chuckle.

**Jace's hands were gentle as he slipped the strip of knotted cloth under her neck, and tied it. It was smeared with something waxy, like the gardener's salve her mother used to keep her paint- and turpentine-abused hands soft. **

**"The demon in Pandemonium—it looked like a person." **

**"It was an Eidolon demon. A shape-changer. Raveners look like they look. Not very attractive, but they're too stupid to care." **

**"It said it was going to eat me." **

**"But it didn't. You killed it." Jace finished the knot and sat back. **

**To Clary's relief the pain in the back of her neck had faded. She hauled herself into a sitting position. "The police are here." Her voice came out like a frog's croak. "We should—" **

**"There's nothing they can do. Somebody probably heard you screaming and reported it. Ten to one those aren't real police officers. Demons have a way of hiding their tracks." **

**"My mom," Clary said, forcing the words through her swollen throat. **

**"There's Ravener poison coursing through your veins **_**right now. **_**You'll be dead in an hour if you don't come with me." **

"That's very comforting," Simon said sarcastically.

**He got to his feet and held out a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her upright. "Come on." **

**The world tilted. Jace slid a hand across her back, holding her steady. He smelled of dirt, blood, and metal. "Can you walk?" **

**"I think so." She glanced through the densely blooming bushes. She could see the police coming up the path. One of them, a slim blond woman, held a flashlight in one hand. As she raised it, Clary saw the hand was fleshless, a skeleton hand sharpened to bone points at the fingertips. "Her hand—" **

**"I told you they might be demons." Jace glanced at the back of the house. "We have to get out of here. Can we go through the alley?" **

**Clary shook her head. "It's bricked up. There's no way—" Her words dissolved into a fit of coughing. She raised her hand to cover her mouth. It came away red. She whimpered. **

**He grabbed her wrist, turned it over so the white, vulnerable flesh of her inner arm lay bare under the moonlight. Traceries of blue vein mapped the inside of her skin, carrying poisoned blood to her heart, her brain. Clary felt her knees buckle. There was something in Jace's hand, something sharp and silver. She tried to pull her hand back, but his grip was too hard: She felt a stinging kiss against her skin. When he let go, she saw an inked black symbol like the ones that covered his skin, just below the fold of her wrist. This one looked like a set of overlapping circles. **

"You marked her just like that!" Isabelle exclaimed, clearly shocked.

"It worked didn't it?" Jace replied, "It's not like I had many options."

"You could have been a little more careful," Alec said but Jace had stopped listening.

**"What's that supposed to do?" **

**"It'll hide you," he said. "Temporarily." He slid the thing Clary had thought was a knife back into his belt. It was a long, luminous cylinder, as thick around as an index finger and tapering to a point. "My stele," he said. **

**Clary didn't ask what that was. She was busy trying not to fall over. The ground was heaving up and down under her feet. "Jace," she said, and she crumpled into him. He caught her as if he were used to catching fainting girls, as if he did it every day.**

"I do have that affect," Jace said smugly.

**Maybe he did. He swung her up into his arms, saying something in her ear that sounded like **_**Covenant. **_**Clary tipped her head back to look at him but saw only the stars cartwheeling across the dark sky overhead. Then the bottom dropped out of everything, and even Jace's arms around her were not enough to keep her from falling.**

"That's the end," Simon said. Knowing that Clary wasn't in the mood to read Simon threw the book across the room at Jace, manly just to throw something at him. Jace caught the book easily and began to read.

**~Please review!**


	5. Clave and Covenant

**~This chapter took longer than usual, sorry. I have been trying to make the characters talk more and so I took longer to add more comments. Hope you like it!**

**5 **

**Clave and Covenant**

Jace read.

**"Do you think she'll ever wake up? It's been three days already." **

**"You have to give her time. Demon poison is strong stuff, and she's a mundane. She hasn't got runes to keep her strong like we do." **

**"Mundies die awfully easily, don't they?" **

**"Isabelle, you know it's bad luck to talk about death in a sickroom." **

"Very nice Isabelle," Jace snapped at her.

"What! It's true," Isabelle retorted.

_**Three days, **_**Clary thought slowly. All her thoughts ran as thickly and slowly as blood or honey. **_**I have to wake up. **_

**But she couldn't. **

**The dreams held her, one after the other, a river of images that bore her along like a leaf tossed in a current. She saw her mother lying in a hospital bed, eyes like bruises in her white face. She saw Luke, standing atop a pile of bones. **

"Why was Luke standing on bones?" Alec asked.

"It was just a dream," Clary shrugged.

**Jace with white feathered wings sprouting out of his back, Isabelle sitting naked with her whip curled around her like a net of gold rings,**

"So now you dream about Isabelle?" Simon asked raising an eyebrow. The others burst out with laughter as Clary blushed.

**Simon with crosses burned into the palms of his hands. Angels, falling and burning. Falling out of the sky. **

"Why wasn't Alec in your dream?" Simon asked curiously while Clary just shook her head.

**"I told you it was the same girl." **

**"I know. Little thing, isn't she? Jace said she killed a Ravener." **

**"Yeah. I thought she was a pixie the first time we saw her. She's not pretty enough to be a pixie, though." **

"Thanks a lot," Clary muttered while Alec gave her an apologetic look.

**"Well, nobody looks their best with demon poison in their veins. Is Hodge going to call on the Brothers?" **

**"I hope not. They give me the creeps. Anyone who mutilates themselves like that—" **

**"We mutilate ourselves." **

**"I know, Alec, but when we do it, it isn't permanent. And it doesn't always hurt…" **

**"If you're old enough. Speaking of which, where is Jace? He saved her, didn't he? I would have thought he'd take some interest in her recovery.**

**"Hodge said he hasn't been to see her since he brought her here. I guess he doesn't care."**

Despite her efforts Clary still felt hurt by the comment.

**"Sometimes I wonder if he—Look! She moved!" **

**"I guess she's alive after all." A sigh. "I'll tell Hodge." **

**Clary's eyelids felt as if they had been sewed shut. She imagined she could feel tearing skin as she peeled them slowly open and blinked for the first time in three days. **

"Well that's a lovely description," Simon said sarcastically.

**She saw clear blue sky above her, white puffy clouds and chubby angels with gilded ribbons trailing from their wrists. **_**Am I dead? **_**she wondered. **_**Could heaven actually look like this? **_**She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again: This time she realized that what she was staring at was an arched wooden ceiling, painted with a rococo motif of clouds and cherubs. **

**Painfully she hauled herself into a sitting position. Every part of her ached, especially the back of her neck. She glanced around. She was tucked into a linen-sheeted bed, one of a long row of similar beds with metal headboards. Her bed had a small nightstand beside it with a white pitcher and cup on it. Lace curtains were pulled across the windows, blocking the light, although she could hear the faint, ever-present New York sounds of traffic coming from outside. **

**"So, you're finally awake," said a dry voice. "Hodge will be pleased. We all thought you'd probably die in your sleep." **

"You are all suck nice people," Simon said sarcastically.

"Well thank you," Jace replied with equally sarcasm.

**Clary turned. Isabelle was perched on the next bed, her long jet-black hair wound into two thick braids that fell past her waist. Her white dress had been replaced by jeans and a tight blue tank top, though the red pendant still winked at her throat. Her dark spiraling tattoos were gone; her skin was as unblemished as the surface of a bowl of cream.**

**"Sorry to disappoint you." Clary's voice rasped like sandpaper. "Is this the Institute?" **

**Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Is there anything Jace **_**didn't **_**tell you?" **

**Clary coughed. "This is the Institute, right?" **

**"Yes. You're in the infirmary, not that you haven't figured that out already." **

**A sudden, stabbing pain made Clary clutch at her stomach. She gasped. **

**Isabelle looked at her in alarm. "Are you okay?" **

**The pain was fading, but Clary was aware of an acid feeling in the back of her throat and a strange light-headedness. "My stomach." **

**"Oh, right. I almost forgot. Hodge said to give you this when you woke up." **

"Now how'd you manage to forget something like that?" Jace asked.

"I was a little preoccupied with the fact that you brought a near dead mundane into the Institute," Isabelle objected.

"That was three days ago."

"Three days is a long time to remember something."

"Can we get back to the book?" Alec interrupted. Isabelle shrugged while Jace continued to read.

**Isabelle grabbed for the ceramic pitcher and poured some of the contents into the matching cup, which she handed to Clary. It was full of a cloudy liquid that steamed slightly. It smelled like herbs and something else, something rich and dark. "You haven't eaten anything in three days," Isabelle pointed out. "That's probably why you feel sick."**

"Or the demon poison," Alec added making Isabelle roll her eyes.

**Clary gingerly took a sip. It was delicious, rich and satisfying with a buttery aftertaste. "What is this?" **

**Isabelle shrugged. "One of Hodge's tisanes. They always work." She slid off the bed, landing on the floor with a catlike arch of her back. "I'm Isabelle Lightwood, by the way. I live here." **

**"I know your name. I'm Clary. Clary Fray. Did Jace bring me here?" **

**Isabelle nodded. "Hodge was furious. You got ichor and blood all over the carpet in the entryway. If he'd done it while my parents were here, he'd have gotten grounded for sure." **

"I can't imagine you being grounded," Simon interrupted.

"The first couple times he went out the window until our parents found out," Alec explained, "so he got another day added onto it any time he got out."

"They finally blocked off the window but whenever he was let out he'd make some sarcastic remark and he'd get another day," Isabelle added.

"After awhile our parents gave up," Alec finished.

The room was full of laughter but Jace continued reading through the noise.

**She looked at Clary more narrowly. "Jace said you killed that Ravener demon all by yourself." **

**A quick image of the scorpion thing with its crabbed, evil face flashed through Clary's mind; she shuddered and clutched the cup more tightly. "I guess I did." **

**"But you're a mundie." **

**"Amazing, isn't it?" Clary said, savoring the look of thinly disguised amazement on Isabelle's face. "Where is Jace? Is he around?" **

**Isabelle shrugged. "Somewhere," she said. "I should go tell everyone you're up. Hodge'll want to talk to you." **

**"Hodge is Jace's tutor, right?" **

**"Hodge tutors us all." She pointed. "The bathroom's through there, and I hung some of my old clothes on the towel rack in case you want to change." **

**Clary went to take another sip from the cup and found that it was empty. She no longer felt hungry or light-headed either, which was a relief. She set the cup down and hugged the sheet around herself. "What happened to **_**my **_**clothes?" **

**"They were covered in blood and poison. Jace burned them." **

"Why did you burn her clothes?" Simon asked curiously.

Jace shrugged, "it was a precaution."

"And it wasn't that big of a loss. Clary doesn't have much of a sense for fashion," Isabelle added. The others laughed while Clary blushed at her comment.

**"Did he?" asked Clary. "Tell me, is he always really rude, or does he save that for mundanes?" **

**"Oh, he's rude to everyone," said Isabelle airily. "It's what makes him so damn sexy. That, and he's killed more demons than anyone else his age."**

Clary couldn't help but be annoyed by the smugness in Jace's voice as he read this part.

**Clary looked at her, perplexed. "Isn't he your brother?"**

"Irony!" Simon laughed causing Clary to glare at him.

**That got Isabella's attention. She laughed out loud. "Jace? My brother? No. Whatever gave you that idea?" **

**"Well, he lives here with you," Clary pointed out. "Doesn't he?" **

**Isabelle nodded. "Well, yes, but…" **

**"Why doesn't he live with his own parents?" **

An awkward tension fell on the room making Jace's voice sharper as he continued to read.

**For a fleeting moment Isabelle looked uncomfortable. "Because they're dead." **

**Clary's mouth opened in surprise. "Did they die in an accident?" **

**"No." Isabelle fidgeted, pushing a dark lock of hair behind her left ear. "His mother died when he was born. His father was murdered when he was ten. Jace saw the whole thing." **

**"Oh," Clary said, her voice small. "Was it… demons?"**

Jace read calmly, his face expressionless.

**Isabelle got to her feet. "Look, I'd better let everyone know you've woken up. They've been waiting for you to open your eyes for three days. Oh, and there's soap in the bathroom," she added. "You might want to clean up a little. You smell."**

"Seriously, you guys are such nice people," Simon exasperated sarcastically.

**Clary glared at her. "Thanks a lot." **

**"Any time." **

**Isabelle's clothes looked ridiculous. Clary had to roll the legs on the jeans up several times before she stopped tripping on them, and the plunging neckline of the red tank top only emphasized her lack of what Eric would have called a "rack." **

Clary blushed, sinking lower in her seat wondering if these books were ever going to stop embarrassing her.

"Actually I think—" Simon began but was cut off by Jace reading loudly.

**She cleaned up in the small bathroom, using a bar of hard lavender soap. Drying herself with a white hand towel left damp hair straggling around her face in fragrant tangles. She squinted at her reflection in the mirror. There was a purpling bruise high up on her left cheek, and her lips were dry and swollen. **

_**I have to call Luke, **_**she thought. Surely there was a phone around here somewhere. Maybe they'd let her use it after she talked to Hodge. **

**She found her Skechers placed neatly at the foot of her infirmary bed, her keys tied into the laces. Sliding her feet into them, she took a deep breath and left to find Isabelle. **

"Why Isabelle?" Alec asked.

"I knew she was in the building. I didn't know if you or Jace were," Clary explained.

**The corridor outside the infirmary was empty. Clary glanced down it, perplexed. It looked like the sort of hallway she sometimes found herself racing down in nightmares, shadowy and infinite. Glass lamps blown into the shapes of roses hung at intervals on the walls, and the air smelled like dust and candle wax. **

**In the distance she could hear a faint and delicate noise, like wind chimes shaken by a storm. She set off down the corridor slowly, trailing a hand along the wall. The Victorian-looking wallpaper was faded with age, burgundy and pale gray. Each side of the corridor was lined with closed doors. **

**The sound she was following grew louder. Now she could identify it as the sound of a piano being played with desultory but undeniable skill, though she couldn't identify the tune. **

"You wouldn't," Jace said. "It was Ravel," he added seeing that Alec was about to ask.

**Turning the corner, she came to a doorway, the door propped fully open. Peering in she saw what was clearly a music room. A grand piano stood in one corner, and rows of chairs were arranged against the far wall. A covered harp occupied the center of the room. **

**Jace was seated at the grand piano, his slender hands moving rapidly over the keys. He was barefoot, dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt, his tawny hair ruffled up around his head as if he'd just woken up. **

Clary smiled as she heard him play the song as she replayed the memory.

**Watching the quick, sure movements of his hands across the keys, Clary remembered how it had felt to be lifted up by those hands, his arms holding her up and the stars hurtling down around her head like a rain of silver tinsel. **

**She must have made some noise, because he twisted around on the stool, blinking into the shadows. "Alec?" he said. "Is that you?" **

"Why'd you think it was me?" Alec asked curiously.

Jace shrugged his shoulders and continued to read.

**"It's not Alec. It's me." She stepped farther into the room. "Clary." **

**Piano keys jangled as he got to his feet. "Our own Sleeping Beauty. Who finally kissed you awake?" **

"Well Isabelle was there in the room and considering that you dream of Isabelle…" Simon let the sentence hang at the end.

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Clary asked.

"Nope. That image in forever engraved in my brain," Simon replied with a smile.

**"Nobody. I woke up on my own." **

**"Was there anyone with you?" **

**"Isabelle, but she went off to get someone—Hodge, I think. She told me to wait, but—" **

**"I should have warned her about your habit of never doing what you're told." Jace squinted at her. "Are those Isabelle's clothes? They look ridiculous on you."**

Clary blushed while Simon snorted at Jace's comment.

**"I could point out that you burned my clothes." **

**"It was purely precautionary." He slid the gleaming black piano cover closed. "Come on, I'll take you to Hodge." **

**The Institute was huge, a vast cavernous space that looked less like it had been designed according to a floor plan and more like it had been naturally hollowed out of rock by the passage of water and years. Through half-open doors Clary glimpsed countless identical small rooms, each with a stripped bed, a nightstand, and a large wooden wardrobe standing open. Pale arches of stone held up the high ceilings, many of the arches intricately carved with small figures. She noticed certain repeating motifs: angels and swords, suns and roses. **

**"Why does this place have so many bedrooms?" Clary asked. "I thought it was a research institute." **

**"This is the residential wing. We're pledged to offer safety and lodging to any Shadowhunter who requests it. We can house up to two hundred people here." **

"Has there ever been a time when all of the rooms have been full?" Clary asked curiously.

"Never all of them but there have been times when a dozen or so have been used," Jace said thoughtfully.

**"But most of these rooms are empty." **

**"People come and go. Nobody stays for long. Usually it's just us—Alec, Isabelle, Max, their parents—and me and Hodge." **

**"Max?" **

**"You met the beauteous Isabelle? Alec is her elder brother. Max is the youngest, but he's overseas with his parents."**

"Beauteous?" Isabelle repeated with smugness.

Simon opened his mouth as if to say something but thought better of it and closed it quickly.

**"On vacation?" **

**"Not exactly." Jace hesitated. "You can think of them as—as foreign diplomats, and of this as an embassy, of sorts. Right now they're in the Shadowhunter home country, working out some very delicate peace negotiations. They brought Max with them because he's so young." **

**"Shadowhunter home country?" Clary's head was spinning. "What's it called?" **

**"Idris." **

**"I've never heard of it." **

**"You wouldn't have." That irritating superiority was back in his voice. "Mundanes don't know about it. There are wardings— protective spells—up all over the borders. If you tried to cross into Idris, you'd simply find yourself transported instantly from one border to the "So it's not on any maps?" **

**"Not mundie ones. For our purposes you can consider it a small country between Germany and France." **

**"But there isn't anything between Germany and France. Except Switzerland." **

"Wait," Simon said, "Idris is the same place as Switzerland?"

"Pretty much," Isabelle replied.

"What if a Shadowhunter wanted to go to Switzerland?" Simon asked.

"We can't, we'd end up in Idris," Alec said. "Same goes for downworlders and demons," he added as an afterthought.

"What so Switzerland is off limits to supernatural beings?" Simon asked with a laugh, clearly not taking this seriously. The looks he got from the three Shadowhunters told him that that was pretty much the case. He sat back in his seat and muttered to himself "should have moved to Switzerland."

**"Precisely," said Jace. **

**"I take it you've been there. To Idris, I mean." **

**"I grew up there." Jace's voice was neutral, but something in his tone let her know that more questions in that direction would not be welcome. "Most of us do. There are, of course, Shadowhunters all over the world. We have to be everywhere, because demonic activity is everywhere. But to a Shadowhunter, Idris is always 'home.'" **

**"Like Mecca or Jerusalem," said Clary, thoughtfully. "So most of you are brought up there, and then when you grow up—" **

**"We're sent where we're needed," said Jace shortly. "And there are a few, like Isabelle and Alec, who grow up away from the home country because that's where their parents are. With all the resources of the Institute here, with Hodge's training—" He broke off. "This is the library." **

**They had reached an arch-shaped set of wooden doors. A blue Persian cat with yellow eyes lay curled in front of them. It raised its head as they approached and yowled. "Hey, Church," Jace said, stroking the cat's back with a bare foot. The cat slit its eyes in pleasure. **

**"Wait," said Clary. "Alec and Isabelle and Max—they're the only Shadowhunters your age that you know, that you spend time with?" **

**Jace stopped stroking the cat. "Yes." **

**"That must get kind of lonely." **

**"I have everything I need." **

Alec and Isabelle smiled at Jace even though he couldn't see them over the book.

**He pushed the doors open. After a moment's hesitation she followed him inside. **

**The library was circular, with a ceiling that tapered to a point, as if it had been built inside a tower. The walls were lined with books, the shelves so high that tall ladders set on casters were placed along them at intervals. These were no ordinary books either—these were books bound in leather and velvet, clasped with sturdy-looking locks and hinges made of brass and silver. Their spines were studded with dully glowing jewels and illuminated with gold script. They looked worn in a way that made it clear that these books were not just old but were well-used, and had been loved. **

**The floor was polished wood, inlaid with and chips of glass and marble bits of semiprecious stone. The inlay formed a pattern that Clary couldn't quite decipher—it might have been the constellations, or even a map of the world; she suspected she'd have to climb up into the tower and look down in order to see it properly. **

**In the center of the room sat a magnificent desk. It was carved from a single slab of wood, a great, heavy piece of oak that gleamed with the dull shine of years. The slab rested upon the backs of two angels, carved from the same wood, their wings gilded and their faces engraved with a look of suffering, as if the weight of the slab were breaking their backs. Behind the desk sat a thin man with gray-streaked hair and a long beaky noise. **

Jace's eyes and voice darkened as he read the description. Alec and Isabelle looked at each other, unsure how to feel about Hodge who had been a friend for so long and had betrayed them in the end.

**"A book lover, I see," he said, smiling at Clary. "You didn't tell me that, Jace." **

**Jace chuckled. Clary could tell that he had come up behind her and was standing there with his hands in his pockets, grinning that infuriating grin of his. "We haven't done much talking during our short acquaintance," he said. "I'm afraid our reading habits didn't come up." **

**Clary turned around and shot him a glare. **

**"How can you tell?" she asked the man behind the desk. "That I like books, I mean." **

**"The look on your face when you walked in," he said, standing up and coming around from behind the desk. "Somehow I doubted you were that impressed by **_**me." **_

**Clary stifled a gasp as he rose. For a moment it seemed to her that he was strangely misshapen, his left shoulder humped and higher than the other. As he approached, she saw that the hunch was actually a bird, perched neatly on his shoulder—a glossy feathered creature with bright black eyes. **

"Where do you think Hugo is?" Alec asked no one in particular.

"With Valentine," Jace said matter-of-factly.

**"This is Hugo," the man said, touching the bird on his shoulder. "Hugo is a raven, and, as such, he knows many things. I, meanwhile, am Hodge Starkweather, a professor of history, and, as such, I do not know nearly enough." **

**Clary laughed a little, despite herself, and shook his outstretched hand. "Clary Fray." **

**"Honored to make your acquaintance," he said. "I would be honored to make the acquaintance of anyone who could kill a Ravener with her bare hands." **

**"It wasn't my bare hands." It still felt odd to be congratulated for killing something. "It was Jace's—well, I don't remember what it was called, but—" **

**"She means my Sensor," Jace said. "She shoved it down the thing's throat. The runes must have choked it. I guess I'll need another one," he added, almost as an afterthought. "I should have mentioned that." **

"And you complain when I forget things," Isabelle said with a laugh.

**"There are several extra in the weapons room," said Hodge. When he smiled at Clary, a thousand small lines rayed out from around his eyes, like the cracks in an old painting. "That was quick thinking. What gave you the idea of using the Sensor as a weapon?" **

**Before she could reply, a sharp laugh sounded through the room. Clary had been so enraptured by the books and distracted by Hodge that she hadn't seen Alec sprawled in an overstuffed red armchair by the empty fireplace. "I can't believe you buy that story, Hodge," he said. **

Clary and Jace both glanced at Alec who was staring at the ground and wouldn't look at anyone.

**At first Clary didn't even register his words. She was too busy staring at him. Like many only children, she was fascinated by the resemblance between siblings, and now, in the full light of day, she could see exactly how much Alec looked like his sister. They had the same jet-black hair, the same slender eyebrows winging up at the corners, the same pale, high-colored skin. But where Isabelle was all arrogance, Alec slumped down in the chair as if he hoped nobody would notice him.**

**His lashes were long and dark like Isabelle's, but where her eyes were black, his were the dark blue of bottle glass. They gazed at Clary with a hostility as pure and concentrated as acid.**

"What's your problem?" Simon asked but Alec only glared at him without speaking.

**"I'm not quite sure what you mean, Alec." Hodge raised an eyebrow. Clary wondered how old he was; there was a sort of agelessness to him, despite the gray in his hair. He wore a neat gray tweed suit, perfectly pressed. He would have looked like a kindly college professor if it hadn't been for the thick scar that drew up the right side of his face. She wondered how he had gotten it.**

**"Are you suggesting that she didn't kill that demon after all?" **

**"Of course she didn't. Look at her—she's a mundie, Hodge, and a little kid, at that. There's no way she took on a Ravener." **

**"I'm not a little kid," Clary interrupted. "I'm sixteen years old—well, I will be on Sunday." **

**"The same age as Isabelle," Hodge said. "Would you call her a child?" **

**"Isabelle hails from one of the greatest Shadowhunter dynasties in history," Alec said dryly. "This girl, on the other hand, hails from New Jersey." **

**"I'm from Brooklyn!" Clary was outraged. **

"Don't you know the difference?" Simon asked with fake anger.

**"And so what? I just killed a demon in my own house, and you're going to be a dickhead about it because I'm not some spoiled-rotten rich brat like you and your sister?" **

**Alec looked astonished. **_**"What **_**did you call me?" **

**Jace laughed. "She has a point, Alec," Jace said. "It's those bridge-and-tunnel demons you really have to watch out for—" **

**"It's not **_**funny, **_**Jace," Alec interrupted, starting to his feet. "Are you just going to let her stand there and call me names?" **

**"Yes," Jace said kindly. "It'll do you good—try to think of it as endurance training." **

**"We may be **_**parabatai," **_**Alec said tightly. "But your flippancy is wearing on my patience." **

**"And your obstinacy is wearing on mine. When I found her, she was lying on the floor in a pool of blood with a dying demon practically on top of her. I watched as it vanished. If she didn't kill it, who did?" **

**"Raveners are stupid. Maybe it got itself in the neck with its stinger. It's happened before—" **

**"Now you're suggesting it committed suicide?" **

Simon snorted and was about to comment when Alec shot him a glare and he smartly closed his mouth.

**Alec's mouth tightened. "It isn't right for her to be here. Mundies aren't allowed in the Institute, and there are good reasons for that. If anyone knew about this, we could be reported to the Clave." **

**"That's not entirely true," Hodge said. "The Law does allow us to offer sanctuary to mundanes in certain circumstances. A Ravener has already attacked Clary's mother—she could well have been next." **

_**Attacked. **_**Clary wondered if this was a euphemism for "murdered." The raven on Hodge's shoulder cawed softly. **

**"Raveners are search-and-destroy machines," Alec said. "They act under orders from warlocks or powerful demon lords. Now, what interest would a warlock or demon lord have in an ordinary mundane household?" His eyes when he looked at Clary were bright with dislike. "Any thoughts?" **

"Really? What's up with you?" Simon asked again only for Jace to start reading as soon as he finished.

**Clary said, "It must have been a mistake." **

**"Demons don't make those kind of mistakes. If they went after your mother, there must have been a reason. If she were innocent—" **

**"What do you mean, 'innocent'?" Clary's voice was quiet. **

**Alec looked taken aback. "I—" **

"Nothing to say to that?" Isabelle asked with a laugh.

**"What he means," said Hodge, "is that it is extremely unusual for a powerful demon, the kind who might command a host of lesser demons, to interest himself in the affairs of human beings. No mundane may summon a demon—they lack that power—but there have been some, desperate and foolish, who have found a witch or warlock to do it for them." **

**"My mother doesn't know any warlocks. She doesn't believe in magic."**

Everyone glanced at Clary with pity in their eyes.

"She doesn't," Clary muttered, "or at least she doesn't do it."

"She finally as the concept of magic in her head!" Jace laughed and Alec joined in.

**A thought occurred to Clary. "Madame Dorothea— she lives downstairs—she's a witch. Maybe the demons were after her and got my mom by mistake?" **

**Hodge's eyebrows shot up into his hair. "A witch lives downstairs from you?" **

"I'm surprised that his eyebrows haven't left his face by now," Simon remarked making the others laugh.

**"She's a hedge-witch—a fake," Jace said. "I already looked into it. There's no reason for any warlock to be interested in her unless he's in the market for nonfunctional crystal balls." **

**"And we're back where we began." Hodge reached up to stroke the bird on his shoulder. "It seems the time has come to notify the Clave." **

**"No!" Jace said. "We can't—" **

**"It made sense to keep Clary's presence here a secret while we were not sure she would recover," Hodge said. "But now she has, and she is the first mundane to pass through the doors of the Institute in over a hundred years. You know the rules about mundane knowledge of Shadowhunters, Jace. The Clave must be informed." **

**"Absolutely," Alec agreed. "I could get a message to my father—" **

**"She's not a mundane," Jace said quietly. **

**Hodge's eyebrows shot back up to his hairline and stayed there. Alec, caught in the middle of a sentence, choked with surprise. In the sudden silence Clary could hear the sound of Hugo's wings rustling. "But I am," she said. **

**"No," said Jace. "You aren't." He turned to Hodge, and Clary saw the slight movement of his throat as he swallowed. She found this glimpse of his nervousness oddly reassuring.**

"Jace actually has feelings?" Simon asked in surprise making the others choke back their laughter.

"Oh ha, ha," Jace snapped back, "can I please get this chapter finished?"

**"That night—there were Du'sien demons, dressed like police officers. We had to get past them. Clary was too weak to run, and there wasn't time to hide—she would have died. So I used my stele— put a **_**mendelin **_**rune on the inside of her arm. I thought—" **

**"Are you out of your **_**mind?" **_**Hodge slammed his hand down on top of the desk so hard that Clary thought the wood might crack.**

"He broke his hand," Isabelle laughed, "he realized it afterwards."

**"You know what the Law says about placing Marks on mundanes! You—you of all people ought to know better!" **

**"But it worked," said Jace. "Clary, show them your arm." With a baffled glance in Jace's direction, she held out her bare arm. She remembered looking down at it that lines as faint as the memory of a scar that had faded with the passage of years. "See, it's almost gone," Jace said. "It didn't hurt her at all." night in the alley, thinking how vulnerable it seemed. Now, just below the crease of her wrist, she could see three faint overlapping circles, the **

**"That's not the point." Hodge could barely control his anger. "You could have turned her into a Forsaken." **

Alec and Isabelle glared at Jace.

"It's not like I did it to some random person," Jace snapped.

"Oh really. What evidence was there that she wasn't just a mundane," Alec retorted.

"She could see us," Jace replied, "she managed to kill a demon and she saw through the police woman's glamour." Before anyone could comment Jace continued to read.

**Two bright spots of color burned high up on Alec's cheekbones. "I can't believe you, Jace. Only Shadowhunters can receive Covenant Marks—they **_**kill **_**mundanes—"**

"No they don't," Jace muttered, "it'd be better if they did."

**"She's not a mundane. Haven't you been listening? It explains why she could see us. She must have Clave blood." **

**Clary lowered her arm, feeling suddenly cold. "But I don't. I couldn't." **

**"You must," Jace said, without looking at her. "If you didn't, that Mark I made on your arm…" **

**"That's enough, Jace," said Hodge, the displeasure clear in his voice. "There's no need to frighten her further." **

**"But I was right, wasn't I? It explains what happened to her mother, too. If she was a Shadowhunter in exile, she might well have Downworld enemies." **

**"My mother wasn't a Shadowhunter!" **

Everyone glanced at Clary again with pity.

**"Your father, then," Jace said. "What about him?" **

**Clary returned his gaze with a flat stare. "He died. Before I was born." **

**Jace flinched, almost imperceptibly. It was Alec who spoke. "It's possible," he said uncertainly. "If her father were a Shadowhunter, and her mother a mundane—well, we all know it's against the Law to marry a mundie. Maybe they were in hiding." **

**"My mother would have told me," Clary said, although she thought of the lack of more than one photo of her father, the way her mother never spoke of him, and knew that it wasn't true. **

**"Not necessarily," said Jace. "We all have secrets." **

"Some more than others," Clary muttered.

**"Luke," Clary said. "Our friend. He would know." With the thought of Luke came a flash of guilt and horror. "It's been three days—he must be frantic. Can I call him? Is there a phone?" She turned to Jace. "Please." **

**Jace hesitated, looking at Hodge, who nodded and moved aside from the desk. Behind him was a globe, made of beaten brass, that didn't look quite like other globes she had seen; there was something subtly strange about the shape of the countries and continents. Next to the globe was an old-fashioned black telephone with a silver rotary dial. Clary lifted it to her ear, the familiar dial tone washing over her like soothing water. **

"Don't you have cell phones?" Simon asked.

"Yeah, but we don't usually carry them," Isabelle responded.

**Luke picked up on the third ring. "Hello?" **

**"Luke!" She sagged against the desk. "It's me. It's Clary." **

**"Clary." She could hear the relief in his voice, along with something else she couldn't quite identify. "You're all right?" **

**"I'm fine," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't call you before. Luke, my mom—" **

**"I know. The police were here." **

"If your mom had told Luke that Valentine was after her then why did he leave?" Simon asked. No one really had an answer to the question so Jace continued to read.

**"Then you haven't heard from her." Any vestigial hope that her mother had fled the house and hidden somewhere disappeared. There was no way she wouldn't have contacted Luke. "What did the police say?" **

**"Just that she was missing." Clary thought of the policewoman with her skeletal hand, and shivered. "Where are you?" **

**"I'm in the city," Clary said. "I don't know where exactly. With some friends. My wallet's gone, though. If you've got some cash, I could take a cab to your place—" **

**"No," he said shortly. **

**The phone slipped in her sweaty hand. She caught it. "What?" **

**"No," he said. "It's too dangerous. You can't come here." **

**"We could call—" **

**"Look." His voice was hard. "Whatever your mother's gotten herself mixed up in, it's nothing to do with me. You're better off where you are." **

"He was trying to protect you," Isabelle told her, "he was going underground. He couldn't keep you safe." Clary knew that now but Luke's rejection had still hurt.

**"But I don't want to stay here." She heard the whine in her voice, like a child's. "I don't know these people. You—" **

**"I'm **_**not **_**your father, Clary. I've told you that before." **

**Tears burned the backs of her eyes. "I'm sorry. It's just—" **

**"Don't call me for favors again," he said. "I've got my own problems, I don't need to be bothered with yours," he added, and hung up the phone. **

**She stood and stared at the receiver, the dial tone buzzing in her ear like a big ugly wasp. She dialed Luke's number again, waited. This time it went to voice mail. She banged the phone down, her hands trembling. **

**Jace was leaning against the armrest of Alec's chair, watching her. "I take it he wasn't happy to hear from you?" **

"Great at pointing out the obvious," Simon said.

**Clary's heart felt as if it had shrunk down to the size of a walnut: a tiny, hard stone in her chest. **_**I will not cry, **_**she thought, **_**Not in front of these people. **_

**"I think I'd like to have a talk with Clary," said Hodge. "Alone," he added firmly, seeing Jace's expression. **

**Alec stood up. "Fine. We'll leave you to it." **

**"That's hardly fair," Jace objected. "I'm the one who found her. I'm the one who saved her life! You want me here, don't you?" he appealed, turning to Clary. **

**Clary looked away, knowing that if she opened her mouth, she'd start to cry. As if from a distance, she heard Alec laugh. **

**"Not everyone wants you all the time, Jace," he said. **

**"Don't be ridiculous," she heard Jace say, but he sounded disappointed. **

"Not used to rejection?" Simon laughed getting a glare from Jace.

**"Fine, then. We'll be in the weapons room." **

**The door closed behind them with a definitive click. Clary's eyes were stinging the way they did when she tried to hold tears back for too long. Hodge loomed up in front of her, a fussing gray blur. "Sit down," he said. "Here, on the couch." **

**She sank gratefully onto the soft cushions. Her cheeks were wet. She reached up to brush the tears away, blinking. "I don't cry much usually," she found herself saying. "It doesn't mean anything. I'll be all right in a minute." **

**"Most people don't cry when they're upset or frightened, but rather when they're frustrated. Your frustration is understandable. You've been through a most trying time." **

**"Trying?" Clary wiped her eyes on the hem of Isabelle's shirt. "You could say that." **

**Hodge pulled the chair out from behind the desk, dragging it over so that he could sit facing her. His eyes, she saw, were gray, like his hair and tweed coat, but there was kindness in them. "Is there anything I could get for you?" he asked. "Something to drink? Some tea?" **

**"I don't want tea," said Clary, with muffled force. "I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them." **

"Clary," Isabelle smiled, "you're not a murder."

**"Unfortunately," said Hodge, "we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing." **

**Clary dropped the hem of the shirt—now spotted all over with wet blotches—and said, "What am I supposed to do, then?" **

**"You could start by telling me a little about what happened," Hodge said, rummaging in his pocket. He produced a handkerchief—crisply folded—and handed it to her. She took it with silent astonishment. She'd never before known anyone who carried a handkerchief. "The demon you saw in your apartment—was that the first such creature you'd ever seen? You had no inkling such creatures existed before?" **

**Clary shook her head, then paused. "One before, but I didn't realize what it was. The first time I saw Jace—" **

**"Right, of course, how foolish of me to forget." Hodge nodded. "In Pandemonium. That was the first time?" **

**"Yes." **

**"And your mother never mentioned them to you—nothing about another world, perhaps, that most people cannot see? Did she seem particularly interested in myths, fairy tales, legends of the fantastic—" **

**"No. She hated all that stuff. She even hated Disney movies. She didn't like me reading manga. She said it was childish." **

**Hodge scratched his head. His hair didn't move. "Most peculiar," he murmured. **

**"Not really," said Clary. "My mother wasn't peculiar. She was the most normal person in the world." **

"Perfectly normal, except—"

"Simon shut up. Jace just read."

**"Normal people don't generally find their homes ransacked by demons," Hodge said, not unkindly. **

**"Couldn't it have been a mistake?" **

**"If it had been a mistake," Hodge said, "and you were an ordinary girl, you would not have seen the demon that attacked you—or if you had, your mind would have processed it as something else entirely: a vicious dog, even another human being. That you could see it, that it spoke to you—" **

**"How did you know it spoke to me?" **

**"Jace reported that you said 'It talked.'" **

**"It hissed." Clary shivered, remembering. "It talked about wanting to eat me, but I think it wasn't supposed to." **

**"Raveners are generally under the control of a stronger demon. They're not very bright or capable on their own," explained Hodge. "Did it say what its master was looking for?" **

**Clary thought. "It said something about a Valentine, but—" **

**Hodge jerked upright, **_**so **_**abruptly that Hugo, who had been resting comfortably on his shoulder, launched himself into the air with an irritable caw. **_**"Valentine?"**_

"Bet that shocked him," Jace chuckled.

"Bet he didn't expect Clary to know the name. After all, demons don't throw the name around lightly." Alec added.

"Really, because so far we've met two demons and both of them have said Valentine's name." Simon replied.

"That's because he was making himself more known. Before his name was rarely heard," Isabelle told him.

**"Yes," Clary said. "I heard the same name in Pandemonium from the boy—I mean, the demon—**

**"It's a name we all know," Hodge said shortly. His voice was steady, but she could see a slight tremble in his hands. Hugo, back on his shoulder, ruffed his feathers uneasily. **

**"A demon?" **

**"No. Valentine is—**_**was**_**—a Shadowhunter." **

**"A Shadowhunter? Why do you say **_**was?" **_

**"Because he's dead," said Hodge flatly. "He's been dead for fifteen years." **

**Clary sank back against the couch cushions. Her head was throbbing. Maybe she should have gone for that tea after all. "Could it be someone else? Someone with the same name?" **

**Hodge's laugh was a humorless bark. "No. But it could have been someone using his name to send a message." He stood up and paced to his desk, hands locked behind his back. "And this would be the time to do it." **

**"Why now?" **

**"Because of the Accords." **

**"The peace negotiations? Jace mentioned those. Peace with who?" **

**"Downworlders," Hodge murmured. He looked down at Clary. His mouth was a tight line. "Forgive me," he said. "This must be confusing for you." **

**"You think?" He leaned against the desk, stroking Hugo's feathers absently. "Downworlders are those who share the Shadow World with us. We have always lived in an uneasy peace with them." **

**"Like vampires, werewolves, and…" **

**"The Fair Folk," Hodge said. "Faeries. And Lilith's children, being half-demon, are warlocks." **

**"So what are you Shadowhunters?" **

**"We are sometimes called the Nephilim," said Hodge. "In the Bible they were the offspring of humans and angels. The legend of the origin of Shadowhunters is that they were created more than a thousand years ago, when humans were being overrun by demon invasions from other worlds. A warlock summoned the Angel Raziel, who mixed some of his own blood with the blood of men in a cup, and gave it to those men to drink. Those who drank the Angel's blood became Shadowhunters, as did their children and their children's children. The cup thereafter was known as the Mortal Cup. Though the legend may not be fact, what is true is that through the years, when Shadowhunter ranks were depleted, it was always possible to create more Shadowhunters using the Cup." **

"Do you think that he'll try that?" Clary asked.

"Oh yeah," Jace said, "he'll get around to it."

_**"Was **_**always possible?" **

**"The Cup is gone," said Hodge. "Destroyed by Valentine, just before he died. He set a great fire and burned himself to death along with his family, his wife, and his child. Scorched the land black. No one will build there still. They say the land is cursed." **

**"Is it?" **

**"Possibly. The Clave hands down curses on occasion as punishment for breaking the Law. Valentine broke the greatest Law of all—he took up arms against his fellow Shadowhunters and slew them. He and his group, the Circle, killed dozens of their brethren along with hundreds of Downworlders during the last Accords. They were only barely defeated." **

**"Why would he want to turn on other Shadowhunters?" **

**"He didn't approve of the Accords. He despised Downworlders and felt that they should be slaughtered, wholesale, to keep this world pure for human beings. Though the Downworlders are not demons, not invaders, he felt they were demonic in nature, and that that was enough. The Clave did not agree—they felt the assistance of Downworlders was necessary if we were ever to drive off demonkind for good. And who could argue, really, that the Fair Folk do not belong in this world, when they have been here longer than we have?" **

"You know, he kind of reminds me of you," Simon said pointing to Jace without thinking. Jace jumped up and would have lunged at Simon if Alec hadn't been holding him back.

"Bad thing to say bloodsucker! Isabelle spat at Simon who had stood up and was backing away.

"I just mean that you hate downworlders and that you're always insulting me for being one!" Simon said, trying to defend himself.

"There's a difference Simon," Clary said glancing back at him. Alec pushed Jace back into his seat. Jace picked up the book slowly, still glaring at Simon who was standing behind his chair.

**"Did the Accords get signed?" **

**"Yes, they were signed. When the Downworlders saw the Clave turn on Valentine and his Circle in their defense, they realized Shadowhunters were not their enemies. Ironically, with his insurrection Valentine made the Accords possible." **

**Hodge sat down in the chair again. "I apologize, this must be a dull history lesson for you. That was Valentine. A firebrand, a visionary, a man of great personal charm and conviction. And a killer. Now someone is invoking his name …" **

**"But who?" Clary asked. "And what does my mother have to do with it?" **

**Hodge stood up again. "I don't know. But I shall do what I can to find out. I will send messages to the Clave and also to the Silent Brothers. They may wish to speak with you." **

**Clary didn't ask who the Silent Brothers were.**

"Weren't you curious?" Isabelle asked.

"I had a headache," Clary said simply.

**She was tired of asking questions whose answers only made her more confused. She stood up. "Is there any chance I could go home?" **

**Hodge looked concerned. "No, I—I wouldn't think that would be wise." **

**"There are things I need there, even if I'm going to stay here. Clothes—" **

**"We can give you money to purchase new clothes." **

**"Please," Clary said. "I have to see if—I have to see what's left." **

**Hodge hesitated, then offered a short, inverted nod. "If Jace agrees to it, you may both go." He turned to the desk, rummaging among the papers. He glanced over his shoulder as if realizing she was still there. "He's in the weapons room."**

**"I don't know where that is." **

**Hodge smiled crookedly. "Church will take you." **

**She glanced toward the door where the fat blue Persian was curled up like a small ottoman. He rose as she came forward, fur rippling like liquid. With an imperious meow he led her into the hall. When she looked back over her shoulder, she saw Hodge already scribbling on a piece of paper. Sending a message t****o**** the mysterious Clave, she guessed. They didn't sound like very nice people. She wondered what their response would be.**

**The red ink looked like blood against the white paper. Frowning, Hodge Starkweather rolled the letter, carefully and meticulously, into the shape of a tube, and whistled for Hugo. The bird, cawing softly, settled on his wrist. Hodge winced. Years ago, in the Uprising, he had sustained a wound to that shoulder, and even as light a weight as Hugo's—or the turn of a season, a change in temperature or humidity, too sudden a movement of his arm—awakened old twinges and the memories of pains better forgotten.**

"That must suck," Simon said.

"Some people deserve pain," Jace said before continuing to read.

**There were some memories, though, that never faded. Images burst like flashbulbs behind his lids when he closed his eyes. Blood and bodies, trampled earth, a white podium stained with red. The cries of the dying. The green and rolling fields of Idris and its endless blue sky, pierced by the towers of the Glass City. The pain of loss surged up inside him like a wave; he tightened his fist, and Hugo, wings fluttering, pecked angrily at his fingers, drawing blood. Opening his hand, Hodge released the bird, who circled his head as he flew up to the skylight and then vanished. **

**Shaking off his sense of foreboding, Hodge reached for another piece of paper, not noticing the scarlet drops that smeared the paper as he wrote. **

"And that's the end to this exceptionally long chapter," Jace said as he past the book to Alec.

**~Please review!**


	6. Forsaken

**~ Ok first off I want to say that I'm really sorry for the delay! To sum it up I had bad internet then my laptop ended up having to be replaced. I plan to continue with this story though so I will start doing the normal 1 chapter at least every other week for as long as I can. Thanks!**

**6 **

**Forsaken **

Alec read.

**The weapons room looked exactly the way something called "the weapons room" sounded like it would look.**

"Well duh," Isabelle chuckled.

**Brushed metal walls were hung with every manner of sword, dagger, spike, pike, featherstaff, bayonet, whip, mace, hook, and bow. Soft leather bags filled with arrows dangled from hooks, and there were stacks of boots, leg guards, and gauntlets for wrists and arms. The place smelled of metal and leather and steel polish. Alec and Jace, no longer barefoot, sat at a long table in the center of the room, their heads bent over an object between them. Jace looked up as the door shut behind Clary. "Where's Hodge?" he said. **

**"Writing to the Silent Brothers." **

**Alec repressed a shudder. "Ugh." **

**She approached the table slowly, conscious of Alec's gaze. "What are you doing?" **

**"Putting the last touches on these." Jace moved aside so she could see what lay on the table: three long slim wands of a dully glowing silver. They did not look sharp or particularly dangerous. "Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf. They're seraph blades." **

**"Those don't look like knives. How did you make them? Magic?" **

**Alec looked horrified, as if she'd asked him to put on a tutu and execute a perfect pirouette. **

"That would be something to see," Jace laughed with the others while Alec glared and continued reading.

**"The funny thing about mundies," Jace said, to nobody in particular, "is how obsessed with magic they are for a bunch of people who don't even know what the word means." **

**"I know what it means," Clary snapped. **

**"No, you don't, you just think you do. Magic is a dark and elemental force, not just a lot of sparkly wands and crystal balls and talking goldfish." **

**"I never said it was a lot of talking goldfish, you—" **

**Jace waved a hand, cutting her off. "Just because you call an electric eel a rubber duck doesn't make it a rubber duck, does it? And God help the poor bastard who decides they want to take a bath with the duckie." **

**"You're driveling," Clary observed. **

**"I'm not," said Jace, with great dignity. **

"Yes you were," Isabelle smiled.

"No I wasn't," Jace said with the same dignity in his voice.

**"Yes, you are," said Alec, rather unexpectedly. "Look, we don't do magic, okay?" he added, not looking at Clary. "That's all you need to know about it." **

**Clary wanted to snap at him, but restrained herself. Alec already didn't seem to like her; there was no point in aggravating his hostility. She turned to Jace. "Hodge said I can go home." **

**Jace nearly dropped the seraph blade he was holding. "He **_**said what?" **_

"You're lucky it didn't stab you in the foot," Simon laughed but Jace ignored him.

**"To look through my mother's things," she amended. "If you go with me." **

**"Jace," Alec exhaled, but Jace ignored him. **

**"If you really want to prove that my mom or dad was a Shadowhunter, we should look through my mom's things. What's left of them." **

**"Down the rabbit hole." Jace grinned crookedly. "Good idea. If we go right now, we should have another three, four hours of daylight." **

**"Do you want me to come with you?" Alec asked, as Clary and Jace moved toward the door. Clary glanced back at him. He was half-out of the chair, eyes expectant. **

"Why did you want to go so badly? I thought you didn't like Clary," Simon asked Alec.

He shrugged, "better than sitting around doing nothing," he said unconvincingly.

**"No." Jace didn't turn around. "That's all right. Clary and I can handle this on our own." **

**The look Alec shot Clary was as sour as poison. She was glad when the door shut behind her. **

"Seriously, what's your problem?" Simon asked angrily.

"Just leave it!" Isabelle snapped glaring at Simon. Simon looked at her in surprise but stayed quiet.

**Jace led the way down the hall, Clary half-jogging to keep up with his long-legged stride. "Have you got your house keys?" **

**Clary glanced down at her shoes. "Yeah." **

**"Good. Not that we couldn't break in, but we'd run a greater chance of disturbing any wards that might be up if we did." **

"Demons no problem, but when faced with a door you choose to be careful," Alec remarked making everyone in the room, including Jace, laugh.

**"If you say so." The hall widened out into a marble-floored foyer, a black metal gate set into one wall. It was only when Jace pushed a button next to the gate and it lit up that she realized it was an elevator. It creaked and groaned as it rose to meet them. "Jace?" **

**"Yeah?" **

**"How did you know I had Shadowhunter blood? Was there some way you could tell?" **

**The elevator arrived with a final groan. Jace unlatched the gate and slid it open. The inside reminded Clary of a birdcage, all black metal and decorative bits of gilt. "I guessed," he said, latching the door behind them. "It seemed like the most likely explanation." **

**"You guessed? You must have been pretty sure, considering you could have killed me." **

**He pressed a button in the wall, and the elevator lurched into action with a vibrating groan that she felt all through the bones in her feet. "I was ninety percent sure." **

**"I see," Clary said. **

**There must have been something in her voice, because he turned to look at her. Her hand cracked across his face, a slap that rocked him back on his heels. He put his hand to his cheek, more in surprise than pain. "What the hell was that for?" **

"You slapped him!" Isabelle, Alec and Simon said at the same time. Simon said it with laughter in his voice while Isabelle and Alec said it with annoyance.

**"The other ten percent," she said, and they rode the rest of the way down to the street in silence. **

**Jace spent the train ride to Brooklyn wrapped in an angry silence. Clary stuck close to him anyway, feeling a little bit guilty, especially when she looked at the red mark her slap had left on his cheek. **

"You don't know your own strength," Jace smiled.

"Sorry," Clary mumbled looking away.

**She didn't really mind the silence; it gave her a chance to think. She kept reliving the conversation with Luke, over and over in her head. It hurt to think about, like biting down on a broken tooth, but she couldn't stop doing it. **

**Farther down the train, two teenage girls sitting on an orange bench seat were giggling together. The sort of girls Clary had never liked at St. Xavier's, sporting pink jelly mules and fake tans. Clary wondered for a moment if they were laughing at her, before she realized with a start of surprise that they were looking at Jace. **

Clary fought down her jealousy that she knew she shouldn't have.

**She remembered the girl in the coffee shop who had been staring at Simon. Girls always got that look on their faces when they thought someone was cute. She had nearly forgotten that Jace **_**was **_**cute, given everything that had happened. He didn't have Alec's delicate cameo looks, but Jace's face was more interesting. In daylight his eyes were the color of golden syrup and were…looking right at her. He cocked an eyebrow. "Can I help you with something?" **

**Clary turned instant traitor against her gender. "Those girls on the other side of the car are staring at you." **

**Jace assumed an air of mellow gratification. "Of course they are," he said. "I am stunningly attractive." **

**"Haven't you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?" **

"Have you heard of modesty in general?" Isabelle laughed.

"Have you?" Jace retorted.

Isabelle smirked but didn't respond.

**"Only from ugly people," Jace confided. "The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me."**

"For now," Simon pointed out.

Jace shrugged, "when it happens I have a feeling that I won't be in a state to care much." He smiled smugly at him, "you on the other hand best be ready."

**He winked at the girls, who giggled and hid behind their hair. **

**Clary sighed. "How come they can see you?" **

**"Glamours are a pain to use. Sometimes we don't bother." The incident with the girls on the train did seem to put him in a better mood. When they left the station and headed up the hill to Clary's apartment, he took one of the seraph blades out of his pocket and started flipping it back and forth between his fingers and across his knuckles, humming to himself. **

**"Do you have to do that?" Clary asked. "It's annoying." **

**Jace hummed louder. It was a loud, tuneful sort of hum, somewhere between "Happy Birthday" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." **

**"I'm sorry I smacked you," she said. **

**He stopped humming. "Just be glad you hit me and not Alec. He would have hit you back." **

**"He seems to be itching for the chance," Clary said, kicking an empty soda can out of her path. "What was it that Alec called you? Para-something?" **

_**"Parabatai," **_**said Jace. "It means a pair of warriors who fight together—who are closer than brothers. Alec is more than just my best friend. My father and his father were **_**parabatai **_**when they were young. His father was my godfather—that's why I live with them. They're my adopted family." **

**"But your last name isn't Lightwood." **

**"No," Jace said, and she would have asked what it was, but they had arrived at her house, **

"What is your last name?" Simon asked, sure that he'd heard it but had forgotten. Jace didn't reply, not wanting to get into the mess that was his last name.

Alec decided that it would be best to keep reading.

**and her heart had started to thump so loudly that she was sure it must be audible for miles. There was a humming in her ears, and the palms of her hands were damp with sweat. She stopped in front of the box hedges, and raised her eyes slowly, expecting to see yellow police tape cordoning off the front door, smashed glass littering the lawn, the whole thing reduced to rubble. **

**But there were no signs of destruction. Bathed in pleasant afternoon light, the brownstone seemed to glow. Bees droned lazily around the rosebushes under Madame Dorothea's windows. **

**"It looks the same," Clary said. **

**"On the outside." Jace reached into his jeans pocket and drew out another one of the metal and plastic contraptions she'd mistaken for a cell phone. **

**"So that's a Sensor? What does it do?" she asked. **

**"It picks up frequencies, like a radio does, but these frequencies are demonic in origin." **

**"Demon shortwave?" "Something like that." Jace held the Sensor out in front of him as he approached the house. It clicked faintly as they climbed the stairs, then stopped. Jace frowned. "It's picking up trace activity, but that could just be left over from that night. I'm not getting anything strong enough for there to be demons present now." **

**Clary let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Good." She bent to retrieve her keys. When she straightened up, she saw the scratches on the front door. It must have been too dark for her to have seen them last time. They looked like claw marks, long and parallel, raked deeply into the wood. **

**Jace touched her arm. "I'll go in first," he said. Clary wanted to tell him that she didn't need to hide behind him, but the words wouldn't come. She could taste the terror she'd felt when she'd first seen the Ravener. The taste was sharp and coppery on her tongue like old pennies. **

"And you know what they taste like, how?" Simon asked, making Clary roll her eyes.

**He pushed the door open with one hand, beckoning her after him with the hand that held the Sensor. Once inside the entryway, Clary blinked, adjusting her eyes to the dimness. The bulb overhead was still out, the skylight too filthy to let in any light, and shadows lay thick across the chipped floor. Madame Dorothea's door was firmly shut. No light showed through the gap under it. Clary wondered uneasily if anything had happened to her. **

**Jace raised his hand and ran it along the banister. It came away wet, streaked with something that looked blackish red in the dim light. "Blood." **

**"Maybe it's mine." Her voice sounded tinny. "From the other night." **

**"It'd be dry by now if it were," Jace said. "Come on." **

**He headed up the stairs, Clary close behind him. The landing was dark, and she fumbled her keys three times before she managed to slide the right one into the lock. Jace leaned over her, watching impatiently. "Don't breathe down my neck," she hissed; her hand was shaking. Finally the tumblers caught, the lock clicking open. **

**Jace pulled her back. "I'll go in first." **

**She hesitated, then stepped aside to let him pass. Her palms were sticky, and not from the heat. In fact, it was cool inside the apartment, almost cold—chilly air seeped from the entryway, stinging her skin. She felt goose bumps rising as she followed Jace down the short hallway and into the living room. **

**It was empty. Startlingly, entirely empty, the way it had been when they'd first moved in—the walls and floor bare, the furniture gone, even the curtains torn down from the windows. Only faint lighter squares of paint on the wall showed where her mother's paintings had hung. As if in a dream, Clary turned and walked toward the kitchen, Jace pacing her, his light eyes narrowed. **

**The kitchen was just as empty, even the refrigerator gone, the chairs, the table—the kitchen cabinets stood open, their bare shelves reminding her of a nursery rhyme. She cleared her throat. "What would demons," she said, "want with our microwave?" **

"Like the Mortal Cup would be hidden in a microwave," Alec said smiling.

**Jace shook his head, mouth curling under at the corners. "I don't know, but I'm not sensing any demonic presence right now. I'd say they're long gone." **

**She glanced around one more time. Someone had cleaned up the spilled Tabasco sauce, she noticed distantly. **

**"Are you satisfied?" Jace asked. "There's nothing here." **

**She shook her head. "I want to see my room." **

**He looked as if he were about to say something, then thought better of it. "If that's what it takes," he said, sliding the seraph blade into his pocket. **

**The light in the hallway was out, but Clary didn't need much light to navigate inside her own house. With Jace just behind her, she found the door to her bedroom and reached for the knob. It was cold in her hand—so cold it nearly hurt, like touching an icicle with your bare skin. She saw Jace look at her quickly, but she was already turning the knob, or trying to. It moved slowly, almost stickily, as if the other side of it were embedded in something glutinous and syrupy— The door blew outward, knocking her off her feet. She skidded across the hallway floor and slammed into the wall, rolling onto her stomach. **

"It really sucks when a Forsaken hides in your bedroom," Simon said with fake sadness.

"How'd you know it was a Forsaken?" Clary asked, confused.

"It was the title of the chapter," Simon said rolling his eyes.

"Oh," was Clary's only reply.

**There was a dull roaring in her ears as she pulled herself up to her knees. **

**Jace, flat against the wall, was fumbling in his pocket, his face a mask of surprise. Looming over him like a giant in a fairy tale was an enormous man, big around as an oak tree, a broad-bladed axe clutched in one gigantic dead-white hand. Tattered filthy rags hung off his grimy skin, and his hair was a single matted tangle, thick with dirt. He stank of poisonous sweat and rotting flesh. Clary was glad she couldn't see his face—the back of him was bad enough. **

**Jace had the seraph blade in his hand. He raised it, calling out:"Sansanvi!" **

**A blade shot from the tube. Clary thought of old movies where bayonets were hidden inside walking sticks, released at the flick of a switch. But she'd never seen a blade like this before: clear as glass, with a glowing hilt, wickedly sharp and nearly as long as Jace's forearm. He struck out, slashing at the gigantic man, who staggered back with a bellow. **

**Jace whirled around, racing toward her. He caught her arm, hauling her to her feet, pushing her ahead of him down the hall. **

"Wouldn't it be easier to fight it in the open?" Simon asked.

"Forsaken are large and uncoordinated. It's easier when they don't have the space to fight," Isabelle replied. Simon had to admit that that did make sense.

**She could hear the thing behind them, following; its footsteps sounded like lead weights being dropped onto the floor, but it was coming on fast. **

**They sped through the entryway and out onto the landing, Jace whipping around to slam the front door shut. She heard the click of the automatic lock and caught her breath. The door shook on its hinges as a tremendous blow struck against it from inside the apartment. Clary backed away to the stairs. Jace glanced at her. His eyes were glowing with manic excitement. "Get downstairs! Get out of the—" **

**Another blow came, and this time the hinges gave way and the door flew outward. It would have knocked Jace over if he hadn't moved so fast that Clary barely saw it; suddenly he was on the top stair, the blade burning in his hand like a fallen star. She saw Jace look at her and shout something, **

"What did you shout?" Clary asked.

"The same thing as last time, get down stairs," Jace answered.

**but she couldn't hear him over the roar of the gigantic creature that burst from the shattered door, making straight for him. She flattened herself against the wall as it passed in a wave of heat and stink— and then its axe was flying, whipping through the air, slicing toward Jace's head. He ducked, and it thunked heavily into the banister, biting deep. **

**Jace laughed. **

Isabelle and Alec glared at Jace for being so reckless.

**The laugh seemed to enrage the creature; abandoning the axe, he lurched at Jace with his enormous fists raised. Jace brought the seraph blade around in an arcing sweep, burying it to the hilt in the giant's shoulder. For a moment the giant stood swaying. Then he lurched forward, his hands outstretched and grasping. Jace stepped aside hastily, but not hastily enough: The enormous fists caught hold of him as the giant staggered and fell, dragging Jace in his wake. Jace cried out once; there was a series of heavy and cracking thumps, and then silence.**

Isabelle, Alec and Clary all shivered at that.

**Clary scrambled to her feet and raced downstairs. Jace lay sprawled at the foot of the steps, his arm bent beneath him at an unnatural angle. Across his legs lay the giant, the hilt of Jace's blade protruding from his shoulder. He was not quite dead, but flopping weakly, a bloody froth leaking from his mouth. Clary could see his face now—it was dead-white and papery, latticed with a black network of horrible scars that almost obliterated his features. His eye sockets were red suppurating pits.**

Everyone looked a little sick, especially the ones who knew that the Forsaken had once been a normal person.

**Fighting the urge to gag, Clary stumbled down the last few stairs, stepped over the twitching giant, and knelt down next to Jace. **

**He was so still. She laid a hand on his shoulder, felt his shirt sticky with blood—his own or the giant's, she couldn't tell. "Jace?" **

**His eyes opened. "Is it dead?" **

"Where you really out or just pretending?" Simon asked. Jace ignored the question so Alec continued to read.

**"Almost," Clary said grimly. **

**"Hell." He winced. "My legs—" **

**"Hold still." Crawling around to his head, Clary slipped her hands under his arms and pulled. He grunted with pain as his legs slipped out from under the creature's spasming carcass. Clary let go, and he struggled to his feet, his left arm across his chest. She stood up. "Is your arm all right?" **

**"No. Broken," he said. "Can you reach into my pocket?" **

**She hesitated, nodded. "Which one?" **

**"Inside jacket, right side. Take out one of the seraph blades and hand it to me." He held still as she nervously slipped her fingers into his pocket. She was standing so close that she could smell the scent of him, sweat and soap and blood. His breath tickled the back of her neck. Her fingers closed on a tube and she drew it out, not looking at him. **

**"Thanks," he said. His fingers traced it briefly before he named it: "Sanvi." Like its predecessor, the tube grew into a wicked-looking dagger, its glow illuminating his face. "Don't watch," he said, going to stand over the scarred thing's body. He raised the blade over his head and brought it down. Blood fountained from the giant's throat, splattering Jace's boots. **

Simon flinched unintentionally at the mention of blood.

**She half-expected the giant to vanish, folding in on itself the way the kid in Pandemonium had. But it didn't. The air was full of the smell of blood: heavy and metallic. Jace made a sound low in his throat. He was white-faced, whether with pain or disgust she couldn't tell. "I told you not to watch," he said. **

**"I thought it would disappear," she said. "Back to its own dimension—you said." **

**"I said that's what happens to demons when they die." Wincing, he shrugged his jacket off his shoulder, baring the upper part of his left arm. "That wasn't a demon." With his right hand he drew something out of his belt. It was the smooth wand-shaped object he'd used to carve those overlapping circles into Clary's skin. Looking at it, she felt her forearm begin to burn. **

**Jace saw her staring and grinned the ghost of a grin. "This," he said, "is a stele." He touched it to an inked mark just below his shoulder, a curious shape almost like a star. Two arms of the star jutted out from the rest of the mark, unconnected. "And this," he said, "is what happens when Shadowhunters are wounded." **

**With the tip of the stele, he traced a line connecting the two arms of the star. When he lowered his hand, the mark was shining as if it had been etched with phosphorescent ink. As Clary watched, it sank into his skin, like a weighted object sinking into water. It left behind a ghostly reminder: a pale, thin scar, almost invisible. **

**An image rose in Clary's mind. Her mother's back, not quite covered by her bathing suit top, the blades of her shoulders and curves of her spine dappled with narrow, white marks. It was like something she had seen in a dream—her mother's back didn't really look like that, she knew. But the image nagged at her. **

**Jace let out a sigh, the tense look of pain leaving his face. He moved the arm, slowly at first, then more easily, lifting it up and down, clenching his fist. Clearly it was no longer broken. **

Jace flexed his arm as if to prove it wasn't broken.

**"That's amazing," Clary said. "How did you—?" **

**"That was an **_**iratze**_**—a healing rune," Jace said. "Finishing the rune with the stele activates it." He shoved the slim wand into his belt and shrugged his jacket back on. With the toe of his boot he prodded the giant's corpse. "We're going to have to report this to Hodge," he said. "He'll freak out," he added, as if the thought of Hodge's alarm gave him some satisfaction. **

"He always had great reactions," Jace commented, "it was funny to watch."

**Jace, Clary thought, was the sort of person who liked it when things were **_**happening, **_**even things that were bad.**

"It's better than being bored," Jace smirked while Clary rolled her eyes.

**"Why will he freak?" Clary said. "And I get that that thing isn't a demon—that's why the Sensor didn't register it, right?" **

**Jace nodded. "You see the scars all over its face?" **

**"Yes." **

**"Those were made with a stele. Like this one." He tapped the wand in his belt. "You asked me what happens when you carve Marks onto someone who doesn't have Shadowhunter blood. Just one Mark will only burn you, but a lot of Marks, powerful ones? Carved into the flesh of a totally ordinary human being with no trace of Shadowhunter ancestry? You get this." He jerked his chin at the corpse. "The runes are agonizingly painful. The Marked ones go insane—the pain drives them out of their minds. They become fierce, mindless killers. They don't sleep or eat unless you make them, and they die, usually quickly. Runes have great power and can be used to do great good—but they can be used for evil. The Forsaken are evil." **

**Clary stared at him in horror. "But why would anyone do that to themselves?" **

**"Nobody would. It's something that gets done to them. By a warlock, maybe, some Downworlder gone bad. The Forsaken are loyal to the one who Marked them, and they're fierce killers. They can obey simple commands, too. It's like having a—a slave army."**

Now Simon looked like he was about to throw up. As he looked around at the others he couldn't find the words that he wanted to say. Instead all that came out was, "Who…why…that's…disgusting."

The others couldn't agree more.

**He stepped over the dead Forsaken, and glanced over his shoulder at her. "I'm going back upstairs." **

**"But there's nothing there." **

**"There might be more of them," he said, almost as if he were hoping there would be. **

Once again Isabelle and Alec glared at Jace for being reckless.

**"You should wait here." He started up the steps. **

**"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a shrill and familiar voice. "There are more of them where the first one came from." **

**Jace, who was nearly at the top of the stairs, spun and stared. So did Clary, although she knew immediately who had spoken. That gravelly accent was unmistakable. **

**"Madame Dorothea?" **

**The old woman inclined her head regally. She stood in the doorway of her apartment, dressed in what looked like a tent made of raw purple silk. Gold chains glittered on her wrists and roped her throat. Her long badger-striped hair straggled from the bun pinned to the top of her head. **

**Jace was still staring. "But…" **

**"More **_**what?" **_**Clary said. **

**"More Forsaken," replied Dorothea with a cheerfulness that, Clary felt, didn't really fit the circumstances. She glanced around the entryway. "You have made a mess, haven't you? I'm sure you weren't planning on cleaning up either. Typical." **

**"But you're a **_**mundane," **_**Jace said, finally finishing his sentence. **

"You would think you would get less surprised," Simon snorted, "I mean you keep telling people that."

Jace was finding it harder to ignore Simon with his growing want to shut him up.

_**"So **_**observant," said Dorothea, her eyes gleaming. "The Clave really broke the mold with you." **

**The bewilderment on Jace's face was fading, replaced by a dawning anger. "You know about the Clave?" he demanded. "You knew about them, and you knew there were Forsaken in this house, and you didn't notify them? Just the existence of Forsaken is a crime against the Covenant—" **

**"Neither Clave nor Covenant have ever done anything for me," said Madame Dorothea, her eyes flashing angrily. "I owe them nothing."**

"She still should have told us. At least we could've killed them and put whoever it was out of their misery," Isabelle muttered.

**For a moment her gravelly New York accent vanished, replaced with something else, a thicker, deeper accent that Clary didn't recognize. **

**"Jace, stop it," Clary said. She turned to Madame Dorothea. "If you know about the Clave and the Forsaken," she said, "then maybe you know what happened to my mother?" **

**Dorothea shook her head, her earrings swinging. There was something like pity on her face. "My advice to you," she said, "is to forget about your mother. She's gone." **

**The floor under Clary seemed to tilt. "You mean she's dead?" **

**"No." Dorothea spoke the word almost reluctantly. "I'm sure she's still alive. For now." **

"There was no need for the last part," Clary muttered. The others looked at her sadly before continuing to read.

**"Then I have to find her," Clary said. The world had stopped tilting; Jace was standing behind her, his hand on her elbow as if to brace her, but she barely noticed. "You understand? I have to find her before—" **

**Madame Dorothea held up a hand. "I don't want to involve myself in Shadowhunter business." **

**"But you knew my mother. She was your neighbor—" **

**"This is an official Clave investigation." Jace cut her off. "I can always come back with the Silent Brothers." **

"For someone who hates them you sure seem to-"

"Simon I swear on all that is good and holy that if you don't shut up I will make you," Jace said through gritted teeth making Simon go instantly quiet.

**"Oh, for the—" Dorothea glanced at her door, then at Jace and Clary. "I suppose you might as well come in," she said, finally. "I'll tell you what I can." She started toward the door, then halted on the threshold, glaring. "But if you tell anyone I helped you, Shadowhunter, you'll wake up tomorrow with snakes for hair and an extra pair of arms." **

**"That might be nice, an extra pair of arms," Jace said. "Handy in a fight." **

**"Not if they're growing out of your…" Dorothea paused and smiled at him, not without malice. "Neck." **

"Could have been worse," Isabelle smiled.

**"Yikes," said Jace mildly. **

**"Yikes is right, Jace Wayland." Dorothea marched into the apartment, her purple tent flying around her like a gaudy flag. **

**Clary looked at Jace. "Wayland?" **

**"It's my name." Jace looked shaken. "I can't say I like that she knows it." **

**Clary glanced after Dorothea. The lights were on inside the apartment; already the heavy smell of incense was flooding the entryway, mixing unpleasantly with the stench of blood. "Still, I think we might as well try talking to her. What have we got to lose?" **

**"Once you've spent a bit more time in our world," Jace said, "you won't ask me that again." **

"And that's it," Alec said before tossing the book to Clary.


End file.
